f 


AN 


EARNEST  TRIFLER. 


A   it* 


BOSTON: 

HOUGHTON,  OSGOOD  AND   COMPANY, 

CTlic  Htoersflre  Prees,  Camirfirp. 

1880. 


f 

,MO 
ss 


COPYRIGHT,  1879, 
BT  HOUGHTON,  OSGOOD  &  CO. 

All  rights  reserved. 


RIVERSIDE,  OAMBRIDQR : 
•TEEBOTTPEB    AND    PEINTEB    BT 
H.  0.  HOUOHTON  AND  COMPANY. 


AK"   EARNEST  TRIFLEB. 


I. 

A  FINE,  gray  mist  was  rising  from  the  river,  and  a 
fine,  gray  twilight  was  falling  from  above,  hushing 
in  their  gray  fold  the  diligent  activities  of  the  country, 
when  two  young  men,  who  had  that  evening  arrived  in 
the  mountains,  were  left  in  possession  of  their  new 
and  unfamiliar  quarters.  As  the  door  closed  behind 
them  the  elder,  a  tall,  plain,  and  unpretentious  man, 
who  excited  little  inquiry  and  who  made  few  inquiries 
himself,  crossed  the  room  and  looked  out  upon  the 
looming  hills  as  if  his  interest  were  in  their  dark  out 
lines  rather  than  in  his  more  immediate  environment ; 
while  the  other,  an  alert  and  more  lightly  built  young 
fellow,  glanced  over  the  walls  and  furniture  as  if  what 
he  saw  was  but  tributary  to  impressions  already  sur 
prising  and  favorable. 

"  Who  would  have  thought,"  he  began,  "  that  we 
would  bring  up  in  such  a  tender  locality  !  Are  these 
the  simple  natives,  and  is  this  the  shanty  you  promised 
me  ?  "  And  again  he  glanced  carelessly  over  the  high- 
hung  pictures  and  the  lion's  claws  which  here  and 
there  protruded  out  of  the  mahogany.  "  I  call  it  no 
1 


2  AN   EARNEST    TKIFLER. 

better  than  the  civilization  we  left,  —  it 's  older  if  any 
thing." 

"It  is  a  wild  country,"  returned  the  man  at  the  win 
dow,  irrelevantly,  —  "a  wild  country  !  I  don't  recall  a 
worse  lock-up  anywhere  around." 

"  I  thought  we  were  to  get  off  in  it  somewhere  and 
live  like  pioneers,"  pursued  the  first  speaker.  "  What 
is  the  use  of  working  a  man  up  to  the  stoical  point  and. 
then  putting  him  to  bed  in  a  room  like  this  ?  "  And 
walking  up  to  a  portrait  of  a  military-looking  gentle 
man  he  surveyed  it  a  moment  with  the  able  criticism 
that  he  brought  to  bear  upon  so  many  faulty  objects. 
"  British  !  "  he  exclaimed,  in  condemnation.  Then,  as 
if  in  search  of  features  of  less  heavy  and  offensive 
nationality,  he  went  over  to  a  long,  bisected  mirror, 
where,  after  due  optical  refreshment,  he  adjusted  his 
coarse  but  finely -fitting  clothes. 

But  the  elder,  Jared  Dayton,  was  not  to  be  diverted 
from  the  landscape  by  the  humors  of  his  friend.  He 
was  a  man  of  affairs,  and  at  all  times,  perhaps,  a  trifle 
irresponsive.  He  went  on  staring  and  speculating. 
''  For  twenty  miles,"  he  shortly  observed,  "  it  is  as  im 
practicable  as  you  see  it  yonder.  No  wonder  they  ran 
the  road  into  the  side  of  a  mountain  and  left  it." 

"  You  '11  get  through  it  soon  enough  and  carry  emi 
gration  with  you,"  rejoined  the  young  fellow,  declining 
the  tacit  invitation  to  look  out.  "  I  suppose  you  are 
longing  to  go  at  it  now  with  that  brutal  energy  of 
yours  ;  but  you  can't  begin  to-night.  You  'd  better 
make  yourself  comfortab'e  while  you  can.  If  we  get 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  3 

that  shanty  of  ours  with  its  ennobling  destitution  we 
won't  have  the  same  conveniences." 

With  easy  accommodation  to  new  surroundings, 
which  was  evidently  habitual,  he  seated  himself  before 
a  huge  hair-cloth  sofa  on  which  their  luggage  was  de 
posited  ;  and  opening  a  portmanteau  with  his  slender, 
nervous  hands,  displayed  its  contents.  "  This  is  a  fine 
lot  of  traps,"  he  said,  "  to  bring  into  a  gentleman's 
house." 

"  Guerrin  would  insist  on  our  coming  here,"  said  the 
other,  turning  and  looking  indifferently  at  the  proper 
ties  to  which  his  attention  was  thus  called.  "  There 
seemed  to  be  no  choice.  We  must  look  around." 

"  They  might  domesticate  you,"  suggested  his  com 
rade,  "  after  twenty  years  of  hotels  and  other  dens. 
He  still  blesses  you,  don't  he,  for  running  that  old  line 
through  his  land  ?  Did  you  stay  here  then  ?  " 

"  Here  ?  I  ?  No,  of  course  not,"  exclaimed  Dayton, 
as  if  protesting  against  the  rich  imagination  which 
could  conceive  such  an  out  of  character  question. 

"  Then  you  never  met  the  daughter  ?  "  continued 
his  companion,  still  giving  his  imagination  vent. 

"  It  is  n't  likely  she  was  born  then." 

The  young  man  laid  aside  an  assortment  of  brushes 
of  the  kinds  best  qualified  to  remove  obnoxious  par 
ticles  from  the  person  and  clothing  of  a  fastidious 
citizen,  and  took  a  cedar-wood  box  of  rectangular 
shape  from  the  folds  of  a  coarse,  gray  blanket.  "  Don't 
you  believe  it,"  he  said  smiling.  "  She  is  older  than 
that.  She  may  look  like  twenty,  or  less,  but  she  haa 


4  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

an   eye-beam   that  resembles  twenty-five.     She   sees 
Who  sees  at  twenty  ?  " 

Dayton  gave  it  up. 

"  I  believe  her  long-fringed  glance  is  sticking  some 
where  through  me  yet,"  said  the  other,  his  humorous 
intention  growing  broader.  "  She  is  fair  looking  for 
the  hills." 

A  low  tattooing  recommenced  upon  the  casement 
gave  a  grudging  assent.  It  was,  in  fact,  one  of  many 
topics  broached  by  his  friend,  on  which  Dayton  had  no 
opinion.  He  went  on  inspecting  the  horizon  as  if 
loth  to  relinquish  the  forms  which  the  night  was  ab 
sorbing,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  loss  of  such 
visible  objects  left  him  frequently  at  a  loss  for  satis 
factory  subjects  of  contemplation.  His  common  blue 
eye  rested  upon  nothing  more  intently  than  mountains 
awaiting  his  skill,  and  the  young  man's  susceptible  and 
dissipated  vision  struck  him  as  a  doubtful  gift,  like  a 
musical  talent  or  an  hereditary  intemperance. 

"  I  would  like  to  know,"  continued  the  younger, 
who  was  also  the  brighter  man,  "  what  this  family  has 
ever  done  that  it  should  be  sequestered  here.  What 
the"  — 

"  I  have  heard,"  said  Dayton,  his  comrade  pausing 
for  a  desirable  word,  "  that  it  was  originally  for  the 
killing  of  a  king.  It  was  some  ancestor,  —  the  regi 
cide,  not  the  king.  He  came  here  to  hide." 

The  young  fellow  laughed.  "That  beats  me,"  he 
said,  perhaps  referring  to  some  pretensions  of  his  own 
in  the  way  of  ancestry.  Then  leaving  the  cigar-box 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  5 

and  the  brushes  upon  the  bureau,  he  too  went  up  to  a 
second  window,  as  if  drawn  by  the  persistent  interest 
of  his  chief  in  what  lay  without. 

Before  him  were  spacious  private  grounds  in  which 
an  effort  at  landscape  gardening  had  once  been  made, 
but  corrected  by  subsequent  neglect.  A  semicircular 
road  and  a  straight  path  led  to  the  house  from  three 
arched  gate-ways,  and  everywhere  beyond  rose  the 
pine-covered  mountains.  He  looked  through  the  trees 
and  up  and  down  the  deserted  road,  but  plainly  failed 
to  take  a  professional  interest  either  in  the  narrow  val 
ley  or  the  gloomy  sierras. 

"  And  do  they  call  this  wilderness  a  town  ?  "  he  in 
quired. 

"  There  are  a  few  houses  down  below,"  replied  Day 
ton  ;  "  half  of  them  have  steeples.  If  we  can't  do 
any  better,  perhaps  we  can  get  one  with  a  steeple. 
We  '11  look  around." 

To  this  repeated  proposition  the  young  fellow  as 
sented.  "  By  all  means,"  he  said.  "  We  '11  never 
know  any  of  the  delights  of  barbarism  here.  There 
can't  be  any  barbarism  where  there  are  women," — and 
he  laughed  again.  Presently,  however,  he  returned  to 
the  idea  with  more  seriousness  than  he  had  yet  shown. 
k/  You  are  right  about  it,"  he  declared.  "  I  want  to 
get  away.  I  can't  get  far  enough.  I  am  not  far  enough 
yet.  I  'd  rather  go  into  camp  with  you  back  on  the 
ridges,  or  anywhere  else,  than  to  go  back  to  France. 
I  've  been  drawn  around,  and  drawn  around,  with  my 
pesky  susceptibility  to  drawings  till  I  've  lost  my  direc- 


6  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

tion.  This  place  is  very  inviting,  but  it  is  n't  the  in 
viting  we  are  after.  It  's  discipline.  It  's  hardihood. 
It  is  n't  enough,  I  take  it,  that  we  get  out  of  Boston 
and  begin  to  dig  again.  We  want  to  dispossess  our 
selves  of  state  ideas  and  habits,  —  to  rehabit  ourselves. 
I  say  we.  I  mean  me.  You  never  have  any  stale 
ideas  and  habits.  Yours  are  the  sort  that  improve  with 
age." 

Of  whatever  sort,  they  were  plainly  so  far  improved 
with  age  that  their  owner  did  not  start  to  quick  inter 
est  in  flattering  discussions  about  himself,  and  for  the 
twentieth  time  the  young  man  went  on,  "  As  for  me," 
he  exclaimed,  "  I  am  after  some  with  the  dew  on  them 
That 's  why  I  favor  the  camping  project." 

As  they  talked,  a  tall  and  slim  young  girl  came 
along  the  road  and  passed  quickly  into  the  house. 
Then  there  was  a  knock  at  the  door,  and  Dayton  ad 
mitted  a  servant  with  lamps. 

The  young  fellow  still  lingered  by  the  window.  In 
the  fresh  mud  of  the  road  and  across  a  corner  of  the 
soggy  turf  were  the  prints  of  the  young  girl's  feet. 
The  toes,  he  idly  observed,  were  narrow,  the  heels 
somewhat  pointed,  and  he  said  to  himself  that  however 
sequestered  her  path,  and  however  primeval  her  heart, 
she  had  shod  her  simplicity  with  the  shoes  of  sophis 
tication. 

The  mist  crept  up.  The  darkness  crept  down.  Only 
thii.gs  near  at  hand  revealed  themselves.  Here  and 
there  in  the  turf  near  the  foot-prints,  were  the  heads 
of  earth-smelling  blossoms.  The  spring  was  far  ad 
vanced. 


n, 

A  FEW  hours  before,  these  two  well-dressed  stran 
gers  had  arrived  at  the  little  railway  station  of  Beau- 
deck,  with  vigor  in  their  well-knit  frames,  and  with  a 
serene  hardihood  of  temper  that  was  in  nowise  dis 
turbed  by  the  doubtful  question  of  their  immediate 
lodgings. 

They  were  the  only  passengers,  but  the  wonder  was 
not  at  the  smallness  of  their  number,  but  at  the  fact 
that  so  desolate  a  terminus  should  be  treated  as  a  possi 
bly  objective  point  for  discriminating  travelers.  Mount 
ains  rose  on  every  side,  and  only  an  ox-team,  lumber 
ing  down  the  declivity  of  an  ancient  covered  bridge, 
betrayed  a  probable  habitation  of  the  valley.  The 
small  station-house,  resembling  a  powder-magazine, 
was  bare  and  empty,  and  as  they  stood  upon  the  plat 
form,  looking  across  the  turbid  little  river,  even  the 
train  which  brought  them,  consisting  of  an  engine  and 
caboose,  backed  away  round  the  hills  with  a  pro 
longed  hoot  of  its  shrill  whistle,  indicative  of  derisive 
joy  at  thus  leaving  them  in  a  trap  like  those  of  their 
own  construction. 

"  Which  way  is  the  village  ?  "  asked  the  younger, 
after  taking  a  brief  survey  of  the  lonely  situation. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  answered  Dayton,  "  this  is  it. 
Y"ou  're  in  it  now." 


8  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  Then,  good  heaven,  which  way  is  the  country  ! " 
he  rejoined.  And  with  a  short  suggestion  of  his  sense 
of  humor,  Dayton  led  the  way  back  along  the  track, 
from  beneath  whose  unballasted  ties  the  water  oozed 
toward  the  bridge  in  which  the  dust  lay  thick  as  the 
mud  without. 

Coming  thence  upon  a  highway  bordered  on  one 
side  by  sycamores  and  on  the  other  by  foot-hills,  they 
had  proceeded  something  like  half  a  mile,  when  they 
were  approached  by  a  slight  gentleman,  well  buttoned 
up  in  a  beaver  coat  which  shone  in  spots.  He  wore  a 
tuft  of  gray  beard  on  his  chin,  and  about  his  mouth 
were  grave  depressions  which  had  been  dimples  when 
he  was  younger,  and  might  be  so  designated  still  when 
he  smiled,  though  in  his  sober  moments  they  were  but 
tokens  of  the  hollowness  of  things  grown  old.  He  had 
mild  blue  eyes,  and  a  manner  in  which  great  geniality 
struggled  with  a  diffidence  not  wholly  surmountable. 
His  movements  were  nervously  quick,  as,  descending 
from  a  smart  road-wagon,  he  advanced  toward  Dayton 
with  outstretched  palm. 

"  Ah,  glad  to  see  you,"  he  said,  changing  from  a  dull 
to  a  brighter  red.  "  Was  on  my  way  over,"  indicating 
the  station.  "  I  'm  late,  or  more  probably  the  train  's 
early,  —  comes  in  most  any  time.  We  are  looking  for 
you,  —  told  my  wife  you  'd  be  along  to-day.  You  never 
met  my  wife.  She  don't  get  about  much.  The  men 
all  here  —  two  hundred  of  them ;  came  in  on  a  gravel 
train.  Everything  ready.  And  this  ?  "  he  added,  tak 
ing  the  younger  man's  hand  in  one  of  his  while  he 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLEU. 

rested  the  other  on  his  shoulder  and  looked  question- 
ingly  at  Dayton. 

"  Is  my  friend  Nathan  Halstead.  Mr.  Guerrin,"  an 
swered  Dayton. 

"  Glad  to  see  you  too,  sir,"  Mr.  Guerrin  went  on, 
still  holding  him  by  the  hand  and  forearm.  "  Under 
stood  there  would  be  two  of  you ;  told  my  wife  so. 
This  is  my  wagon.  I  've  just  driven  up  from  the  falls, 

—  a  good  twelve  miles.     Get  in,  both  of  you.     Place 
almost  in  sight." 

"  Thank  you,  but " —  began  Dayton. 

"  Get  in  and  we  '11  talk  about  it.  Ground  's  damp/' 
pursued  Mr.  Guerrin,  and  lifting  one  leg  across  the 
knee  of  the  other,  he  looked  for  illustration  at  the  sole 
of  his  boot.  "  I  calculated  to  take  care  of  you  while 
you  're  here,  with  your  indulgence,"  he  continued. 
"  Big  house,  not  many  in  it.  Not  here  much  of  the 
time  myself ;  too  much  doing  at  the  falls,  but  when 
I  'm  up  would  like  to  talk  it  over  with  you.  You  're 
in  the  country  now,  you  know  —  no  hotel.  You  will 
have  to  take  quarters  where  you  find  'em.  It 's  five 
o'clock ;  nearly  supper  time.  "We  have  dinner  at  six, 

—  call  it  supper  to  please  the  Misses  Desborough,  — • 
dinner  at  six  too  irregular,  you  know,"  and  he  nodded 
with  a  smile  as  one  who  knew  an  easy  path  around 
rough  places.     "  Find  things  much  changed,  eh  ?  " 

"  We  were  on  our  way  to  the  Center,  —  there  is  a 
j  lace  they  call  the  Center  ?  "  Dayton  began  with  one 
hand  on  the  wagon,  xeady  to  mount.  "  If  you  will  be 
so  kind  as  to  take  us  there." 


10  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  What  for  ?  A  straw-stack  ?  They  are  the  only 
•edgings  left." 

"  Nothing    so   luxurious    as    that,"    said    Ilalstead. 

O  ' 

"  We  Ve  talked  of  a  tent  —  of  anything  —  of  camp 
ing  out." 

Mr.  Guerrin  untied  a  silk  bandana  that  was  wound 
about  his  neck  and  looked  curiously  from  one  to  the 
other.  Then  catching  something  of  Halstead's  rejuve 
nating  smile,  "  Not  in  Beaudeck,"  he  said  with  de 
cision  ;  and  nodding  in  the  direction  of  Dayton,  he 
added,  "  He  don't  count  much  on  his  friends,  I  take 
it." 

The  house  to  which  they  were  thus  rapidly  and  un 
expectedly  driven  was  one  owned  and  occupied  by  the 
ancient  family  of  Desboroughs,  and  but  recently,  as 
one  might  say,  and  perhaps  incongruously  invaded  in 
a  matrimonial  way  by  the  hospitable  gentleman  who 
was  now  doing  its  honors.  It  was  a  large  house  — 
large,  respectable,  and  embowered,  with  huge  wings  on 
either  side,  spread  as  if  ready  for  flight.  The  Des 
boroughs  had  always  made  every  preparation  for  flight, 
tirst  from  English  officers,  then  from  hostile  red  men, 
then  from  a  too  great  security  which  was  also  ob- 
"curity ;  but  this  flight  they  had  never  taken.  They 
were  like  a  big  bird  which  fails  to  carry  out  its  eagle 
intentions,  and  grows  old  and  inactive  on  the  spot 
where  it  built  its  first  nest. 

Across  the  front  of  the  house  and  across  each  wins 

o 

were  columned  porches  facing  in  three  directions  and 
with  three  tiers  of  steps  leading  down  to  the  yard. 


AN  EARNEST    TRIFLER.  11 

The  wings  were  each  a  single  story,  but  tho  fluted  col 
umns  of  the  fa$ade  reached  past  the  upper  windows 
and  upheld  the  gable  of  the  roof.  It  was  painted  gray, 
and  its  shingles  curled  up  under  the  elms. 

A  family  tree  heavily  laden  with  Desboroughs  huug 
in  the  wide  front  hall,  and  portraits  of  their  soldiers 
and  their  missionaries  looked  darkly  down  from  the 
paneled  walls.  High,  straight-backed  chairs  were  ar 
ranged  against  the  wainscoting;  flowers  were  in  the 
windows,  and  the  stairway,  wound  upward  past  a  win 
dow,  also  filled  with  flowers.  It  was  a  house  to  lend 
character  even  to  frivolous  inmates.  But  its  inmates 
were  not  frivolous.  They  were  still  as  in  the  begin 
ning,  smooth-browed  and  grave,  and  since  the  days  of 
Cromwell  had  laid  claims  to  distinction.  Their  father 
was  the  great  Desborough  who  fled  from  England  after 
the  Restoration,  owing  to  his  assistance  in  the  death  of 
Charles  the  First ;  and  the  fact  that  in  the  intentions 
of  the  monarchists  he  was  beheaded,  quartered,  and 
burned  in  pitch  at  Charing  Cross,  did  not  prevent  his 
establishing  a  family  in  the  wilds  of  America,  where 
instead  of  killing  kings  they  engaged  in  the  no  less 
hazardous  occupation  of  growing  up  with  the  country 
and  endeavoring  to  convert  the  Pokanokets. 

They  were  a  very  different  family  from  the  unheroic 
Guerrins,  who  manufactured  countless  buttons  in  an 
adjoining  village,  and  the  alliance  between  their  young 
est  member  and  the  head  of  the  button  establishment 
liad  not,  even  after  many  years,  entirely  lost  a  certain 
incongruity.  But  then,  perhaps,  any  marriage  with 


12  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

any  Desborough  would  in  itself,  at  any  time,  have 
seemed  slightly  incongruous. 

The  two  young  men,  engineers  by  profession,  who 
had  thus  been  turned  from  their  purpose  by  the  button 
manufacturer,  were  shown  with  brief  ceremony  into 
the  large  and  heavily  furnished  Desborough  parlor, 
where  they  were  shortly  joined  by  three  gentlewomen 
of  about  the  same  age  and  bearing  close  resemblance 
to  each  other. 

These  gentlewomen  were  plainly  by  custom  tolerant 
of  such  freaks  on  the  part  of  the  nominal  head  of 
their  household,  and  lent  themselves  with  resignation, 
if  not  with  willful  pleasure,  to  his  schemes  of  enter 
tainment.  Two  of  them  bowed  a  trifle  stiffly,  gauging 
as  far  as  possible  in  an  instantaneous  survey  the  sin 
cerity  of  their  welcome,  but  the  other,  apparently  less 
fearful  that  cordiality  might  do  violence  to  her  con 
science,  extended  a  soft  hand  to  the  new-comers  whose 
acquaintance  she  was  invited  to  make.  Her  features 
were  long  and  straight,  and  her  composure  was  that 
of  a  person  in  whom  the  seriousness  of  life  precluded 
a  vain  self-consciousness. 

"  My  husband  frequently  brings  strangers  home  with 
him,"  she  said,  addressing  Dayton  in  a  soft,  monoto 
nous  voice.  "  They  are  about  the  only  ones  we  see. 
We  live  very  quietly  here.  Too  quietly,  he  thinks. 
He  is  a  quiet  man  himself,  but  he  likes  talkers.  Per 
haps  you  are  a  talker." 

Dayton  seated  himself  in  a  straight-backed  chair  in 
stead  of  the  low  upholstered  one  offered  him,  and 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  13 

shook  his  head  at  expectations  so  contrary  to  the  fact. 
"  I  am  afraid  not,"  he  answered,  regretfully. 

"  We  were  expecting  you  yesterday,"  she  went  on, 
with  the  same  monotonous  composure.  "  You  arc  to 
have  the  wing.  My  husband  always  want  strangers 
put  in  the  north  wing.  He  has  a  great  many  friends. 
We  don't  know  where  he  picks  them  up.  The  last 
gentleman  who  came  was  from  the  west,  Oswego,  I 
think.  He  was  a  starch  man.  He  told  us  some  very 
interesting  things.  We  think  ourselves  it  is  more  in 
teresting  when  people  come.  You  are  from  Boston,  I 
believe." 

"  I  can't  exactly  say  I  live  there,"  said  Dayton.  "  I 
am  at  a  loss  to  say  where  I  am  from,  — from  one  place 
about  as  much  as  another." 

To  be  addressed  by  a  lady  much  older  than  himself, 
who  nicely  blended  distance  with  friendly  overture, 
was  not  without  a  certain  charm  to  him,  though  it  sel 
dom  failed  inwardly  to  embarrass  him.  In  fact,  when 
the  attention  of  any  woman  was  fixed  upon  him  ex 
clusively,  the  resources  of  his  common  imperturbable 
strength  seemed  to  take  wings,  and  in  the  midst  of  his 
polite  reception  of  such  favors  he  felt  a  little  helpless. 

"  That  is  very  strange,"  said  Mrs.  Guerrin  with  puz 
zled  earnestness. 

"  Oh,  you  must  n't  think  from  that,"  he  said,  has 
tening  to  correct  an  adverse  impression,  "  that  I  am 
a  deliberate  renegade.  It  is  my  misfortune  to  have 
claims  on  no  locality." 

"  One  has  a  claim  on  the  place  where  one  is  born,' 
she  answered  conclusively. 


L4  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  I  'm  afraid  my  birthplace  would  n't  know  me," 
said  Dayton,  moving  his  feet  about  on  the  much  flow 
ered  and  faded  velvet  of  the  carpet.  "  It  was  in  South 
America,  among  the  Portuguese." 

"  That  is  very  strange,"  repeated  Mrs.  Guerrin,  with 
faint  disapproval. 

"  I  can't  lay  claims  to  such  a  foreign  spot  as  that, 
you  know,  without  seeming  more  astray  than  ever," 
he  went  on  still  apologetically.  "  It 's  my  business. 
Another  occupation  would  have  fixed  me  somewhere." 

Mrs.  Guerrin  picked  up  her  knitting  work,  and  held 
it,  without  knitting,  in  her  hands.  ''We  are  very 
much  interested  in  your  business,"  she  said,  giving  up 
the  discussion  of  locality  with  one  of  such  wild  and 
irrational  habits.  "  It  will  be  a  very  great  change  foi 
us.  The  town  won't  be  what  it  has  been.  Mr.  Guer 
rin  has  been  very  active  in  it.  He  thinks  of  it  at 
night.  It  is  his  pet  scheme,  and  he  has  done  a  great 
deal  for  it.  We  think  sometimes  he  has  done  too  much 
for  his  own  good." 

"  I  hope  not,"  answered  Dayton,  reassuringly. 

"  It  seems  thus  far  as  if  the  road  had  only  served  to 
take  our  people  off.  They  have  had  a  fever  for  the 
prairie  lands.  Joseph  Morgan  was  the  last  who  went. 
He  was  a  very  useful  man,  and  one  of  his  sons  is  in 
India  now,  doing  mission-work.  When  the  people  go 
they  go  to  the  farthest  places  they  can  hear  of.  My 
husband  says  when  the  road  runs  through  others  may 
come  in,  but  we  are  afraid  they  won't." 

"  It  will  be  a  great  line,"  he  declared. 


AN   EARNKST   TRIFLEB.  15 

"  Hannah  calls  it  progress,"  said  Mrs.  Guerrin.  "  I 
suppose  it  is." 

Dayton  looked  with  reverence  at  the  person  thus 
referred  to  as  holding  advanced  opinions,  and  at  that 
moment  the  dining-room  door  opened. 

Preliminary  to  any  movement  in  that  direction,  Mr. 
Gtierrin  hesitated  and  looked  about  him.  "  Where  is 
Rachel  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  I'm  coining,  father,"  some  one  answered,  and  there 
entered  with  slight  precipitation  a  slender,  blooming 
girl.  She  had  her  hat  in  her  hand,  and  a  brown  set 
ter  followed  at  her  heels.  Going  up  to  Mr.  Guerrin 
he  took  her  head  in  his  hands  and  kissed  her,  while  the 
elder  women  glanced  up  with  a  flutter  of  the  eyelids. 
She  had  their  height,  the  same  lack  of  self-conscious 
ness,  the  same  straightness  of  nose,  the  same  contour 
of  face,  but  in  the  different  expression  she  gave  them 
she  seemed  almost  to  make  light  of  the  family  features. 
She  carried  with  confidence  the  bowed  head  of  her 
forefathers.  She  raised  from  time  to  time  the  ancestral 
eyebrows.  She  allowed  a  restless  light  to  shine  in  the 
gray  Desborough  optics,  and  destroyed  with  a  reckless 
smile  their  careful  gravity. 

Dayton  bowed  as  he  was  presented,  a  bow  of  proper 
depth  and  deference,  but  nevertheless  a  bow  of  blind 
indifference,  —  the  bow  of  one  who  expected  nothing 
of  the  new  acquaintance,  —  of  one  introduced  to  no 
new  impressions.  There  was  in  his  quiet  glance  no 
recognition  of  her  fairness,  and  he  immediately  went 
on  talking  with  her  mother. 


16  .       AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

Halstead,  also,  in  his  turn,  made  a  bow  of  proper 
depth  and  deference,  —  a  quiet  bow  accompanied  by  a 
quiet  glance ;  but  by  the  tune  his  eyes  had  fairly  made 
their  delicate  observations,  she  was  connected  in  his 
mind  with  the  freshness  of  the  spring,  and  the  on 
coming  warmth  of  the  summer. 

"  My  daughter,"  Mr.  Guerrin  had  stated,  and  "  These 
are  the  gentlemen  of  whom  I  told  you." 

"  You  are  to  blow  up  our  hills,"  said  Rachel  with  her 
smile. 

"  If  you  wish,"  murmured  Halstead,  with  such  di 
rectness  as  struck  three  of  them,  at  least,  as  of  tremen 
dous  import. 

Mr.  Guerrin  had,  indeed,  been  somewhat  surprised 
when  he  surveyed  at  his  leisure  the  young  fellow  whom 
Dayton  had  brought  with  him.  He  was  not  what  might 
be  expected  ;  younger,  lighter,  easier,  more  pictur 
esque  ;  the  sort  of  a  fellow  to  look  for  in  a  drawing- 
room,  not  in  a  railroad  corps,  roughing  it  in  the  mount 
ains.  He  did  not  remember  ever  to  have  met  any  one 
like  him,  but  he  shook  him  by  the  hand  and  had  no 
misgivings. 

Not  so  the  others.  They  looked  at  him  closely, 
askance,  questioningly,  and  when  he  murmured,  "  If 
you  wish,"  they  could  almost  have  put  their  fingers 
in  their  ears,  so  loudly  and  with  such  far  reverberations 
did  it  seem  to  ring. 

u  Who  is  this  Mr.  Halstead  ? "  asked  Miss  Hannah 
later,  coming  into  the  sitting  room  with  a  basket  piled 
high  with  underwear. 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  17 

"  That  is  not  quite  clear  yet  "  answered  Mr.  Guerrin, 
turning,  with  his  hands  behind  him,  and  facing  the  only 
tribunal  of  practical  consequence  to  him.  "  He  came 
with  Dayton.  Dayton  is  very  reliable.  He  seems  a 
clever  sort  of  young  man." 

"  He  is  too  clever,  too  everything,"  she  said,  draw 
ing  to  its  distant  end  her  thread  of  darning  cotton. 

"All  the  more  reason  why  you  ought  to  like  him, 
Hannah,"  he  returned,  eagerly  seizing  the  thought. 

"  Hannah  may  like  him,  and  still  not  think  he  will 
do  good  here,"  began  the  elder  Miss  Desborough. 

"  There  is  Rachel,"  suggested  Miss  Hannah,  deli 
cately. 

"  Oh,  it 's  Rachel,  is  it?"  he  cried,  the  light  break 
ing  in  upon  him.  "  I  can  make  it  right  with  Rachel. 
She  '11  treat  him  well." 

The  youth  under  discussion  had  in  reality  a  good 
though  slight  figure,  and  a  fine  head,  well  set  on  his 
shoulders.  One  of  his  white  teeth  was  broken  ;  there 
were  two  vertical  lines  in  the  middle  of  his  forehead, 
and  he  was  slightly  near-sighted ;  but  those  who  knew 
him  thought  him  enhanced  by  these  as  well  as  more 
serious  defects.  Wherever  there  was  a  flaw  in  him 
there  also  was  an  added  charm.  His  faults  were  the 
most  becoming  faults  of  which  youth  could  be  guilty, 
and  the  man  or  the  woman  had  yet  to  be  found  who 
would  not  forgive  him  his  graceful  trespasses.  A 
commercial  friend  of  his  had  once  frowned  upon  him 
with  impatience  and  an  angry  sense  of  wrong,  when 
Halstead  looked  up  with  his  disarming  smile.  "  What- 
2 


^8  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

ever  fault  you  have  to  find  with  me,"  he  said,  "  now  is 
the  opportunity." 

"It  is  a  very  good  opportunity,"  said  his  friend 
presently,  as  he  turned  away,  "  but  I  have  no  stock." 
It  was  always  so  when  they  came  to  designate  his  short 
comings. 

Nothing,  apparently,  had  ever  gone  deeply  wrong 
with  him  ;  or  if  there  had,  —  and  he  was  twenty-eight 
which  made  it  probable,  —  he  interposed  so  many  in 
terests  between  his  present  self  and  his  memory  of 
disaster,  that  he  seemed  to  have  escaped  mischances ; 
there  were,  at  least,  no  outward  signs  of  that  accumu 
lation  of  disappointments  which  seems  necessary  to 
give  the  soul  at  twenty-eight  the  proper  consistency. 

His  vitality  was  always  aglow.  His  sensibilities  were 
always  abroad.  When  he  walked  out  under  the  twink 
ling  heavens  he  observed  both  the  stars  above  and  the 
cowslips  below,  and  if  the  one  were  sometimes  ob 
scured,  and  if  he  sometimes  knocked  the  head  off  the 
other,  he  whistled  and  went  on.  He  was  remarkable 
for  always  going  on.  Even  when  he  stood  momenta 
rily  in  the  attitude  of  a  spectator,  it  was  as  a  spectatoi 
who  could  easily  seize  anything  he  wanted,  if  his  ar 
dor  came  to  the  assistance  of  his  indifferent  wishes. 

His  mother,  a  stately  and  ambitious  woman,  had  sent 
him  to  the  Boston  Institute  of  Technology,  and  then 
to  the  Central  School  of  Arts  and  Manufactures  in 
Paris,  where  he  spent  five  years.  Apart  from  his  ac 
quirements  as  a  student,  which,  in  truth,  were  not  pres 
tigious,  she  intended  him  to  be  something  brilliant  in 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  19 

a  social  way.  She  also  meant  him  to  prosper  in  busi 
ness,  to  be  rich,  to  be  talented,  to  be  politic ;  and  he  in 
tended  some  day  to  indulge  these  whims  of  his  mother. 
His  father,  deceased,  had  been  inclined  toward  prodi 
gal  living,  spending  much  money  in  the  greed  of  that 
inclination,  and  the  son  developed  a  taste  for  pleasure 
which  as  his  father's  son  rendered  him  liable  to  suspi 
cion.  Once  or  twice  he  had  fancied  elegant  women 
older  than  himself,  and  it  was  said  that  for  so  young  a 
man  he  had  made  some  extensive  journey  ings  in  pur 
suit  of  these  superb  objects  of  his  interest,  —  beside 
other  things  indicative  of  great  strength  of  fancy. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  considered  dissipation  a  sense 
less  pastime,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  had  a  ca 
pacity  for  application  and  a  degree  of  uprightness  that 
might  carry  him  through. 


m. 

SEVERAL  days  later  Dayton  and  Halstead  again 
found  themselves  together  in  the  quarters  now  grown 
familiar,  Halstead  having  made  himself  acquainted 
with  even  the  most  distant  views,  and  Dayton  having 
more  than  once  recruited  his  energy  and  lost  sight  of 
the  hills  in  chairs  which  seemed  kindly  disposed  to  ac 
commodate  themselves  to  every  peculiarity  of  the  hu 
man  back.  They  had  been  days  of  unusual  exertion, 
and  while  each  had  kept  flowing  a  small  current  of 
lighter  thoughts,  they  had  been  deterred  by  certain  un 
foreseen  eccentricities  in  those  currents  from  a  free 
interchange  of  impressions. 

Halstead  on  this  occasion  was  seated  by  a  table  near 
the  window,  endeavoring  to  catch  the  last  rays  of  light 
upon  borne  sheets  of  card-board  which  he  was  system 
atically  defacing,  when  Dayton  came  wandering  in  from 
the  side  piazza,  with  the  look  of  one  from  whom  the 
lethargy  had  recently  been  shaken.  He  prepared  the 
lamp  ready  for  lighting,  arranged  some  news  and  other 
papers,  placed  advantageously  for  the  light  one  of  the 
comfortable  and  reverie-breeding  receptacles  for  his  per 
son,  and  then  as  if  these  preparations  for  the  evening 
were  slightly  in  advance  of  the  evening  itself,  or  as  it' 
he  were  in  no  mood  for  immediate  subsidence,  paused  on 
his  way  for  a  match  and  squared  himself  upon  the  rug 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  2] 

u  The  young  lady  here  is  something  unusual  for  this 
locality,  is  n't  she?"  he  began  as  if  it  were  the  Qrst 
time  the  subject  had  been  mentioned.  "  Have  you 
seen  much  of  her  ?  " 

"  You  have  looked  at  her,  finally,  have  you  ?  "  said 
Halstead,  adding  some  corrective  touches  to  the  way 
ward  lines  upon  his  paper. 

"  I  have  looked  at  her,  yes,  —  perhaps  not  finally," 
returned  Dayton. 

Halstead  glanced  up,  suspending  his  implement  mid 
way  between  his  eye  and  card-board,  and  suppressing 
a  whistle,  not  to  express  too  rude  a  surprise.  Then 
catching  his  comrade's  uncommon  and  unbusiness-like 
air  he  bent  to  his  work  again,  to  hide  his  impudent  in 
sight. 

"Have  you  talked  with  her  much?"  Dayton  k- 
quired. 

"  No,  —  scarcely  at  all  in  fact." 

"  I  supposed  you  would  know  her  well  by  this  time. 
We  have  been  here  three  days,  man !  " 

"  I  don't.     You  Ve  begun  it !  " 

"  Begun  what  ?  " 

"  Her  acquaintance.  If  you  make  it,  it  opens  that 
pasture  to  the  rest  of  us,  does  n't  it  ?  " 

Dayton  laughed,  a  short,  half-amused  laugh.  "  It  is 
full  of  greenness,"  he  returned. 

"  I  dare  say." 

"  Not  what  you  mean  by  greenness.  I  am  no  judge 
of  that,  —  freshness,  you  know." 

•'  I  dare  say,"  repeated  Halstead. 


22  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  Come,"  said  Dayton,  "  you  would  like  her." 

Halstead  went  on  diligently  with  his  unintelligible 
draft.  "  Well  ?  "  he  said  presently,  without  lifting  his 
glance. 

"  Well  what  ?  "  echoed  Dayton. 

"  Go  on  if  you  are  going  to  ?  Where  did  you  eec 
her  ?  " 

"  Just  now.  We  came  down  through  the  gorge  over 
yonder.  There  is  a  road  through.  I  heard  there  was 
a  house  up  there  we  could  get,  and  went  up  for  a  walk 
to  look  at  it.  It 's  a  good  mile." 

"  Too  far,"  said  Halstead. 

"  Rather  far,"  assented  Dayton,  resuming  his  usual 
manner,  "  but  it  might  do.  It  is  in  pretty  good  re 
pair,  only  the  windows  broken.  Four  rooms.  Good 
spring  and  fine  view.  You  could  lie  outside  and  apos 
trophize  the  planets,  —  I  believe  you  like  that  sort  of 
thing.  Rather  breezy,  but  we  won't  object  to  breezes 
soon." 

"  Never  mind  the  house,"  interrupted  his  charming 
listener  dryly. 

"  Whoever  lived  there  probably  blew  away,"  con 
tinued  Dayton. 

"  The  pretty,  hectic  girls  went  the  rest  of  the  way 
up/'  conjectured  Halstead,  "  and  the  men  went  west. 
Go  on  with  your  story." 

"  That  is  all  of  it." 

"  What  was  she  doing  ?  " 

' '  She  seemed  to  be  swinging  her  hat." 

"  She  feels  easier,  apparently,  in  the  company  of 
her  hat." 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  23 

To  this  Dayton  made  no  response.  He  glanced  idly 
about  the  room.  He  was  still  in  no  hurry  to  proceed 
with  his  usual  evening  occupations. 

"  Confound  it !  "  exclaimed  Halstead,  "  what  did  she 
say?" 

"  She  talked  away.     It  is  very  pleasant  out." 

"  What  did  you  say  then  ?  —  one  is  pretty  sure  to  re> 
member  that." 

"  There  was  a  foolish  brook,"  answered  Dayton, 
getting  a  match  but  not  striking  it,  "  and  I  wanted 
to  help  her  across.  I  told  her  I  had  never  known  a 
woman  yet  who  did  not  fall  in  when  an  opportunity 
presented  itself.  '  Fall  in  what?  '  she  said." 

"  What  did  you  say  to  that  ?  " 

"  I  told  her,  '  Whatever  chasm  there  was.'  She 
did  n't  let  me  help  her." 

"  No  wonder.  She  could  n't  very  well  after  that, 
you  know.  Was  she  alone  ?  " 

"  There  were  some  ragamuffins  with  her.  The  Dan 
Drueys  she  called  them,  —  it  seems  they  live  on  the 
place.  She  introduced  them  as  if  they  were  a  pair 
of  grandees.  They  were  driving  some  sheep,  and  we 
walked  down  through  the  gorge  together.  It  could  n't 
be  helped." 

Halstead  rose  abruptly  with  his  hands  full  of  pen 
cils.  "  To  think  of  you,  my  dear  fellow,"  he  cried 
with  mocking  incredulity,  "  playing  the  part  of  a  rustic. 
I  thought  I  knew  you.  What  next  ?  Where  are  your 
sheep,  and  what  have  you  done  with  the  shepherdess  ? 
It  is  beastly  wet  for  driving  sheep,  eh  ?  " 


24  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  "What  do  you  think  of  the  house?  "  asked  Dayton. 
He  wondered  if  he  had  been  a  trifle  ridiculous.  He 
thought  he  might  have  been.  Halstead's  sense  on  such 
points  was  unerring. 

"  I  confess  I  have  n't  thought  of  it  at  all,"  he  re 
plied.  "  I  have  n't  had  time.  Your  subsequent  bu 
colic  drove  it  out  of  my  head.  I  imagined  you  had 
given  it  up,  you  have  been  so  long  about  it." 

"  I  thought  you  did  n't  care  for  it,"  Dayton  rejoined. 

"  I  ?  It  '&  you  ! "  said  Halstead  going  back  to  his 
desk. 

"  The  trouble  with  you,"  began  Dayton  after  a  time, 
as  if  their  thoughts  in  the  dark  pursued  the  same  chan 
nel,  "  is  that  you  don't  know  how  to  make  an  acquaint 
ance  in  the  ordinary  sense.  It  is  one  of  the  few  things 
that  you  do  with  excessive  thoroughness  ;  the  rest  of 
us  are  satisfied  to  be  tolerably  superficial  in  that  line  ! 
If  you  are  entertaining  any  such  purpose  don't  say 
I  began  it.  There  are  some  of  your  lighter  pursuits 
that  I  am  proud  to  inaugurate,  you  know ;  but  when  it 
comes  to  a  bit  of  skilled  labor,  like  the  making  of  an 
acquaintance,  on  which  you  exercise  your  peculiar 
gifts,  you  need  n't  point  back  at  me.  It  is  more  than 
I  bargained  for." 

"You  are  too  modest,"  said  Halstead. 

"  Well,  your  conscience  is  clear,"  retorted  the  elder. 

"  You  are  right.  I  'm  not  modest,  I  admit,"  cried 
Halstead,  and  as  he  spoke  he  had  a  certain  pleasant 
sense  of  inextinguishable  brightness.  To  be  an  easy 
fellow,  a  clever  fellow,  a  fellow  who  kept  his  lights 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLEK.  25 

well  burning,  seemed  to  him  too  charming  a  destiny  to 
be  muffled  in  modesty. 

"  When  I  think  of  some  of  your  acquaintances,  ' 
began  Dayton  again,  a  little  uncomfortably  — 

"  Don't  think  of  them  if  it  makes  you  uneasy,  — • 
what 's  the  use  ?  "  interrupted  his  frank  assistant.  And 
to  all  appearances  Dayton  concluded  to  accept  this 
piece  of  cheerful  advice. 

He  went  on  smoking,  and  there  was  a  second  long 
interval  of  silence,  till,  completing  a  portion  of  his 
drawing,  Halstead  held  it  out  and  carefully  surveyed 
it  at  arm's  length. 

"  I  suspect,"  he  said  slowly,  —  and  for  a  moment 
Dayton  thought  he  was  reading  from  the  card-board 
—  "I  suspect  that  the  Desborough  economy  has  bios 
somed  into  an  extravagance.  Their  sobriety  has  fer 
mented.  Their  grays  have  grown  rosy.  Their  tame- 
ness  is  running  a  little  wild.  There  is  some  life  and 
color  in  the  last  member  of  the  family.  It  is  amusing 
to  see  her  apprehensive  elders  look  at  her  ;  have  you 
noticed  ?  They  are  afraid  she  will  ruffle  their  pro 
found  serenity.  She  whispers  in  the  ears  of  the  sleep 
ers  !  You  are  a  sleeper  ;  ,you  would  better  look  out ; 
she  might  begin  talking  to  you  !  I  say  it  is  n't  much 
she  wants  of  us,  is  it  ? "  he  went  on,  adding  a  line 
here  and  there  to  his  work.  "  We  did  not  come  to 
seek  her  or  to  be  entertained  by  her,  and  she  scorns  to 
take  advantage  of  the  accident  that  brought  us  to  her 
house  for  lesser  purposes.  Perhaps  she  takes  us  for 
her  father's  clerks  !  " 


26  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

It  was  Dayton's  turn  now  to  whistle  but  he,  too,  for 
bore. 

"  I  thought  you  had  taken  her  measurement,"  he 
said,  and  then  he  composed  himself  among  his  papers, 
running  his  unarrested  eyes  up  and  down  the  columns 

The  chances  of  conversation  were  at  an  end,  and 
after  a  time  Halstead  tipped  back  in  his  chair,  and 
with  his  hands  clasped  behind  his  neck  looked  out  at 
the  gloaming.  It  was  the  hour  when,  for  eighteen 
years,  he  had  turned  from  his  multifarious  occupations 
to  his  multifarious  pleasures,  and  the  remission  of  the 
latter  filled  him  with  a  burdensome  impatience  at  the 
former.  He  looked  out  idly,  leisurely  at  first,  then 
frowningly,  restlessly.  The  white  gate-way  raised  its 
arms  aloft  and  beckoned  him  in  the  gloom.  The  de 
serted  road  urged  him  away.  A  gap  in  the  horizon 
offered  him  an  easy  transit.  But  these  familiar  ave 
nues  would  but  trick  him  into  a  deeper  dullness.  There 
were  no  tickets  taken  at  the  gate-way,  no  flights  of 
steps,  no  gas-jets,  no  voices  awaited  him  at  the  end  of 
(•.he  high-road,  and  no  novelty  of  adventure  in  the 
mountains  ;  and  turning  away  from  the  raw  country 
scene  with  its  raw  depressions  he  sauntered  out  into 
the  main  hall  of  the  house.  Through  the  open  door 
of  the  sitting-roorn  came  the  smooth  sound  of  desul 
tory  music ;  and  catching  the  air  on  his  Eolian  spirit 
he  presented  himself  at  the  threshold,  and  was  bidden 
to  enter  by  Miss  Hannah  herself. 

Mrs.  Guerrin  was  there  still  engaged  with  her  soft 
blue  wools ;  Mr.  Guerrin  was  deep  in  the  wisdom  oi 


AK    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  27 

the  "  Springfield  Republican,"  the  great  staple  of  his 
reading ;  Miss  Desborough  was  going  through  an  epis 
tolary  struggle  with  her  desk  upon  her  lap,  and  Rachel 
was  seated  at  the  piano,  on  which  much  abused,  domes 
tic  instrument  she  was  playing,  as  to  herself,  somo 
very  undomestic  arias. 

It  was  to  Miss  Hannah  that  our  young  gentleman 
first  addressed  himself  in  lively  pantomime.  Indeed, 
from  the  very  beginning  and  with  wisdom  greater  than 
he  knew  he  had  addressed  himself  largely  and  effect 
ively  in  that  direction,  and  it  was  not  until  her  appro 
bation  seemed  the  chief  object  of  his  visit  that  he 
permitted  himself  to  go  on  to  the  piano. 

Rachel  continued  her  uninterrupted  measures  for 
some  moments,  while  Halstead  stood  near,  listening 
perhaps,  perhaps  merely  waiting.  Presently  and  al 
most  imperceptibly  her  fingers  faltered,  and  the  consist 
ent  melody  seemed  to  scatter,  to  lose  itself  in  chords 
and  disconnected  notes ;  then,  from  some  disturbing 
cause,  it  discomposed  into  the  silence  that  originally 
held  it,  and  she  looked  up  at  him  over  the  score. 

"  Are  you  a  musician  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  It  is  rather  a  matter  of  by-gones,"  he  replied,  re 
adjusting  himself  hi  an  attitude  of  fresh  interest.  "  I 
played  the  violin  at  one  time  in  a  college  band ;  and  I 
was  once  guilty  of  owning  a  guitar." 

"  There  is  a  guitar  somewhere  about  the  house," 
said  Rachel. 

"You  should  not  tell  me  that  as  an  isolated  fact/ 
tie  rejoined.  "  You  should  add  that  you  would  resur 


28  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

reel  it,  and  that  we  would  throw  open  the  windows  and 
have  a  summer  garden.  There  is  an  immense  amount 
of  music,  among  other  things,  in  a  summer  garden." 

"  Is  there  ?     I  was  never  in  one." 

"  Whatever  one  wants  up  here  one  must  make,  even 
to  an  orchestra,"  he  declared.  "  To-day  I  wanted  a 
rope,  and  we  twisted  it  of  straw ;  one  can  get  most 
anything  if  one  twists  up  the  straws." 

"  I  don't  know  about  that,"  said  Rachel,  rising 
But  her  doubt  did  not  extend  to  the  confident  and 
smiling  young  man  who  affirmed  it,  and  compared  with 
whose  knowledge  her  own  hearsay  seemed  vapid  and 
valueless. 

There  was  no  particular  reason  why  she  should  have 
risen.  It  was  an  unreasonable  impulse  of  which  she 
had  no  warning.  It  was  the  first  time  this  strange, 
young  foreign  native  had  sought  and  addressed  her, 
yet  at  the  first  available  moment  some  struggling  mo 
tive  in  her  sought  to  put  an  end  to  it.  She  wondered 
greatly  about  him,  and  on  some  of  her  recent  animated 
strollings  she  had  speculated  upon  that  larger  life 
which  he  so  ably  epitomized.  She  expected  to  know 
him  well  before  the  summer  was  over,  but  was  con 
scious  of  satisfaction  in  its  delay,  its  slow  beginning. 
He  looked  at  her  with  a  certain  bright  deliberateness 
which  had  in  it  no  element  of  impertinence,  yet  in  the 
light  of  this  experienced  gaze  she  seemed  singularly 
ignorant  and  elementary ;  and  when  he  spoke  to  her 
she  felt  that  she  could  only  help  him  in  short  and  des 
ultory  sentences,  since  the  smallness  of  her  range  when 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  29 

compared  with  his  extensive  familiarity,  must  mako 
wide  silences  between  them.  Perhaps  it  was  in  antici 
pation  of  some  such  coming  silence  that  she  so  sud 
denly  broke  off  their  brief  dialogue,  and  rising,  hesi 
tated. 

"How  is  the  road,  Halstead?"  asked  Mr.  Guerrin, 
hearing  the  stir  from  behind  the  "  Republican."  And 
Halstead  advancing,  explained  to  him  some  of  their 
engineering  difficulties ;  while  Rachel  going  over  to 
the  windows  dropped  the  damask  curtains  as  if  the 
spreading  of  their  crimson  arabesques  had  been  the 
duty  which  she  found  it  impossible  longer  to  post 
pone. 

"  It 's  heavy  work,  heavy  work,  no  doubt  about  that," 
Baid  Mr.  Guerrin  shortly,  rubbing  a  thin  hand  over 
his  sharp  knee,  "  but  there  is  nothing  like  work  for  a 
young  man." 

"  I  suppose  not,"  answered  the  young  man  lightly. 
"  It  is  what  they  all  tell  us.  We  have  to  come  to  it 
ta  self-defense.  Life  soon  ceases  to  give  us  satisfac 
tion  gratuitously." 

Rachel  drew  near  again.  Epigrams  upon  life  had  a 
great  attraction  for  her.  She  would  have  liked  herself 
to  be  able  to  make  them.  Whenever  she  heard  one, 
which  was  not  often,  her  imagination  took  it  up  and 
she  tried  to  conceive  the  vivid  and  varied  existence 
condensed  into  that  compact  and  portable  form.  Sha 
had  never  seen  any  one  who  seemed  himself  such  an 
epigram  as  young  Halstead,  —  who  had  observed  every 
thing,  and  who  had  so  well  digested  human-kind.  If 


30  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

the  princes  of  the  "  Arabian  Nights  "  had  been  men- 
tioned,  she  would  have  expected  him  to  twist  his  rnus> 
tache  and  say,  "Ah,  yes,  I  know  them;  once  when 
in  Arabia  "  —  Perhaps  it  was  the  Paris  in  him.  She 
had  heard  he  had  been  in  Paris.  Parisians  knew 
everything ;  smiled  at  everything. 

Miss  Hannah  also  raised  her  regular  and  inflexible 
features.  To  her  this  light  generalizing  seemed  to 
imply  years  of  anterior  recreancy.  It  was  as  if  he  had 
poked  his  nose  in  many  crooked  alleys  and  then  com 
ing  out  upon  the  highway,  sniffed  the  air,  exclaiming, 
"  How  sweet  it  smells." 

"  It  is  n't  to  this  life  that  one  must  look  for  satisfac 
tion,"  she  said,  closing  her  lips  upon  the  sentence  as 
if  to  suppress  others  that  would  follow  in  case  of  con 
tradiction. 

"  True,  madam,"  said  Halstead,  forestalling  them 
with  a  little  bow. 

"  When  I  was  in  the  senate,"  said  Mr.  Guerrin, 
"  every  other  man  I  met  seemed  to  be  a  shirker.  They 
were  all  after  soft  places  —  no  work  and  good  pay." 

"  You  have  been  in  the  senate,  then,  sir  ?  " 

"For  a  term  only.  From  the  manufacturing  dis 
trict.  I  took  my  family  with  me  to  Boston,  but  my 
wife  did  not  like  it.  She  missed  her  sisters,  and  she 
couldn't  bear  the  people  slipping  about  the  hotels. 
She  thought  they  seemed  guilty.  I  rather  liked  it 
myself,  but  after  all  it  did  n't  pay.  Whatever  you  do, 
eir,  never  go  into  politics.  Better  loaf,  and  be  done 
with  it.  It 's  cheaper  and  more  certain." 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLEB.  31 

"Oh,  I've  tried  that!"  said  Halstead,  with  what 
seemed  to  Miss  Hannah  to  be  the  beginning  of  end 
less  confession.  "  I  might,  perhaps,  be  at  it  yet  if  it 
were  not  for  Dayton.  He  took  me  by  the  shoulders 
and  set  me  to  work,  without  even  saying  '  By  your 
leave.'  I»had  begun  to  yawn  when  he  came  along* 
He  was  right ;  he  is  always  right.  I  was  a  great  idler. 
He  thinks  a  great  deal  of  making  money,  Dayton  does. 
I  don't  know  why.  He  don't  care  for  it,  much  less 
for  what  he  can  get  with  it.  It 's  habit  with  him.  He 
is  devoted  to  his  profession,  and  it  seems  to  enable  him 
to  dispense  with  other  pastimes.  You  see  it  isn't 
merely  that  he  desires  a  fortune ;  he  desires  to  make 
it  by  high  methods.  He  stubbornly  does  his  best,  — 
that 's  habit,  too  !  " 

"  It  is  a  good  one  to  fall  into,"  remarked  Miss  Han 
nah. 

"  I  don't  see  how  he  comes  by  it,"  said  Mrs.  Guerrin. 
"  He  has  led  a  very  irregular  life.  He  told  me  himself 
he  was  from  South  America.  It  seems  to  me,  and  I 
am  sure  it  must  seem  so  to  you,  too,  Hannah,  that 
good  habits  don't  come  with  much  moving  about, — 
they  are  like  moss,  —  they  don't  .grow  on  rolling 
stones." 

"  Oh,  he  is  no  rolling  stone,"  cried  Halstead.  "  He 
has  really  been  about  very  little.  With  the  exception 
of  a  few  years  in  California,  he  has  lived  all  his  life 
right  around  here,  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Mis 
sissippi.  Besides,  wherever  he  goes  he  has  the  same 
general  purpose.  When  he  moves  off  with  his  valise 


32  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

in  his  hand,  he  is  all  there ;  purpose,  energy,  outfit, 
his  darling,  which  is  his  profession,  —  everything.  He 
leaves  nothing.  It  is  like  the  motion  of  the  earth; 
everything  moves  with  him,  so  he  feels  no  motion  at 
all.  He  is  no  rolling  stone  !  " 

"  I  don't  accuse  him,"  said  Mrs.  Guerrin,  bewildered 
at  the  likeness  between  her  accusation,  if  she  had  made 
one,  and  its  defense.  "  We  all  think  highly  of  him,  — 
ask  Hannah,  ask  Mr.  Guerrin.  We  think  very  highly 
of  him,  indeed,  —  only  it  is  strange  that  with  his  draw 
backs  he  is  what  he  is.  He  "  — 

Halstead,  who  had  remained  standing,  happened  to 
look  down  at  his  boots,  and  his  averted  attention  seemed 
to  relieve  her  from  words  that  were  suggested  and  vo 
calized  only  through  his  appealing  amiability,  and  she 
stopped,  paralyzed  by  the  diminutive  and  door-yard 
view  that  she  was  asked  to  take  of  a  large  part  of  the 
Western  Continent. 

"  I  believe  it  was  in  California  that  he  made  his 
reputation,"  said  Mr.  Guerrin,  bringing  the  conversa 
tion  back  to  a  safe  basis.  "Pie  made  a  good  one." 

"  Without  a  blotch,"  assented  Halstead,  "  or  rather 
without  a  botch." 

Again  he  looked  at  Rachel  with  his  bright  deliber 
ate  gaze. 

"  So  perfect  as  that  ?  "  she  said,  thinking  something 
was  expected  of  her. 

"  Oh,  it  will  do  for  me  to  find  him  perfect,"  he  an 
swered.  "  It  becomes  me.  Men  generally  approve 
him  whether  they  like  him  or  not,  but  they  don't  ex- 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  33 

pect  to  foist  their  unqualified  approbation  upon  those 
from  whom  he  himself  don't  ask  or  deserve  it.  lie 
is  n't  a  woman-hater,  nor  even  a  woman  shunner.  lie 
is  a  woman  iguorer.  It  would  n't  be  fair  with  such  a 
defect  as  that  to  ask  you  to  think  him  perfect,  too. 
My  sister  gets  more  responses  from  him  than  any  one 
I  know.  She  is  older  than  I,  and  married,  and  sJu> 
talks  to  him  upon  some  widely  impersonal  subject,  like 
the  copper  mines  of  Michigan,  or  the  cockatoos  of  the 
Molucca  Islands.  Copper  mines  are  safe ;  cockatoos 
are  safe.  Nothing  personal  about  that.  He  has  been 
known  to  go  up  there  with  me  to  dinner  when  we  were 
in  Boston." 

"You  are  friends,  then,  as  well  as  business  asso 
ciates  ? "  conjectured  Mr.  Guerrin. 

"  Friends  first  and  foremost.  I  am  under  obligations 
to  him.  Perhaps  I  can  repay  him  some  day,  but  I 
doubt  it.  He  is  obstinate ;  he  goes  his  own  way,  and 
you  can't  do  much  for  him.  I  would  like  to  catch  him 
some  time  under  stress  for  help,  and  clap  a  favor  on 
him  before  he  knew  it.  You  think  you  are  doing 
something  for  him,  arid  the  first  thing  you  know  you 
are  over  head  and  ears  in  his  debt ;  and  he  does  n't 
seem  to  intend  it  either.  Just  now,  sir,  he  permits 
himself  to  be  under  obligations  to  you,  but  in  the  end 
you  can't  tell  where  you  '11  be." 

"You  are  mistaken,"  said  Mr.  Guerrin  with  more 
positiveness  than  he  generally  ventured  upon.  "  I  am 
under  obligations  to  him  now  and  all  the  time,  —  with 
long  arrears  of  interest.  Don't  let  me  hear  any  more 


84  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

about  that.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  make  yourselves 
comfortable  if  you  can." 

"The  wing,"  began  his  wife  tentatively,  "is  cold  in 
winter,  but  it  is  generally  considered  pleasant  in  sum 
mer." 

"  Delightful,"  assented  Halstead. 

"  Then  use  it,"  said  Miss  Hannah,  with  the  brevity 
of  one  who  assumed  an  almost  tragic  responsibility. 

Bachel,  under  the  lamp-light,  continued  her  gentle 
occupation,  paying  no  further  attention  to  the  conver 
sation  or  to  the  novel  central  figure,  who  from  his  posi 
tion  on  the  rug,  which  seemed  to  serve  him  as  a  sort  of 
stage,  turned  first  to  one  and  then  to  another  of  her 
serious  elders.  He  was  not  without  a  certain  sense  of 
dramatic  effect  upon  his  audience,  and  that  that  effect 
was  not  wholly  unfavorable  he  felt  assured  from  Miss 
Hannah's  dictum ;  but  what  it  might  be  upon  the  pas 
sive  embroiderer  who  was  rather  withdrawn  from  the 
circle,  he  had  scant  means  of  knowing.  "  Never,"  he 
said  to  himself  as  he  went  to  his  room,  "  was  there 
a  girl  so  amply  fathered  and  mothered,  particularly 
mothered.  Three  of  them,  —  heavens  !  " 


IV. 

IT  was  the  first  Sunday  after  their  arrival  in  Beau- 
deck  and  Halstead  found  the  time  rather  heavy  on  his 
hands.  He  spent  the  morning  as  he  spent  his  evenings, 
bending  over  the  table  on  which  lay  the  symbols  of  his 
art ;  and  from  this  position  he  saw  the  remnant  of  the 
historic  Desboroughs  go  down  the  long  walk  to  the 
sound  of  bells,  from  the  economy  of  whose  resonance 
he  argued  a  corresponding  frugality  in  the  feast  to 
which  they  gave  summons.  He  put  his  elbows  on  the 
table  and  his  pencil  behind  his  ear,  and  presently  there 
floated  to  him  on  the  hopeful  morning  air  a  despairing 
psalm,  to  which  incongruous  entertainment  he  listened 
with  amused  benevolence.  It  seemed  to  him  that  he 
had  never  since  his  birth  been  caught  in  such  profound 
stillness  as  followed  the  singing  of  that  psalm.  He 
even  felt  a  difficulty  in  breathing  it,  and  resorted  to 
drubbing  as  a  precaution  against  asphyxia. 

But  it  was  in  the  afternoon  that  the  length  as  well 
&s  the  depth  of  the  stillness  most  impressed  him.  He 
went  out  upon  the  piazza  and  watched  for  a  while  the 
holy  sun  in  its  slow  progression  from  the  zenith  to  the 
mountain-tops,  till  blinded  by  that  pastime  he  went 
within  and  turned  over  some  old  volumes  that  crowded 
the  book-shelves  in  his  room.  Selecting  one  of  the 
lightest,  he  finally  composed  himself  for  literary  im- 


36  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

provement,  but,  as  was  often  the  case  with  him,  hiai 
composure  proved  greater  than  his  mental  activity. 
While  the  subject  of  the  sketch  was  still  a  boy  in  Lon 
don,  Halstead's  mind  wandered,  and  when  he  came  to, 
as  he  expressed  it,  the  obscure  infant  had  grown  to 
eminent  maturity.  How  he  did  it  Nathan  never  knew. 
He  closed  the  book,  and  picked  up  his  hat. 

"  This  won't  do,"  he  said  to  Dayton  as  he  passed  him 
on  the  piazza ;  "  we  must  go  down  to  Boston  another 
Sunday." 

"  What 's  the  matter  ?  "  answered  Dayton  ;  "  I  con 
fess  I  don't  see  the  attractions  of  that  famous  metrop 
olis." 

"Do  as  you  please,"  rejoined  the  other,  "I  can't 
stand  a  vacuum  like  this." 

"  Like  what  ?  "  said  Dayton ;  but  Halstead  did  not 
stop  to  make  himself  intelligible  to  such  perverse  sto 
lidity. 

Going  down  the  steps,  he  followed  the  semicircular 
road  a  short  distance,  looking  down  at  himself  as  if  his 
interest  were  in  the  pleasing  exercise  of  his  legs  ;  then 
he  swung  himself  across  the  lawn;  then  turned  at 
right  angles  and  went  down  toward  the  garden,  gradu 
ally  losing  his  vivacious  restlessness  in  a  leisurely,  Sun 
day  inquisitiveness.  He  had  never  been  down  in  the 
garden,  and  pausing  midway  among  the  herbs,  lie 
broke  off  a  tansy  leaf  and  looked  back  at  the  house. 
There  was  no  one  at  any  of  the  windows,  no  one  on 
any  of  the  porches.  It  stood  there  trustful  and  vacant ; 
and  feeling  himself  alone  on  unexplored  territory,  he 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  37 

went  on  down  the  path  walking  with  his  hands  behind 
him  as  men  will  on  Sunday.  Behind  the  garden,  which 
was  devoted  to  domestic  and  floral  purposes,  was  an 
orchard,  to  which  he  admitted  himself  through  a  hinge- 
less  gate,  and  again  looked  about  him. 

A  number  of  lots  had  evidently  been  sold  off  the 
place  where  it  bordered  on  the  village  street,  but  it  ex 
tended  back  of  these  for  a  long,  lean  distance  down  the 
river.  In  the  angle  thus  formed  and  behind  the  town 
lots  was  a  low  stone  embankment,  whose  singular  posi 
tion  attracted  his  loose-flying  curiosity,  and  strolling  in 
that  direction  he  came  upon  an  old  and  populous  grave 
yard,  long  since  disused  and  overgrown  with  vines  and 
brambles.  It  was  drearily  old.  Time  there  was  over 
and  eternity  had  set  in.  The  grave-stones  had  ceased 
to  be  painstaking  and  elegant,  and  had  fallen  into  shift 
less  attitudes.  The  very  ghosts  were  taking  their  ease, 
and  the  grief,  the  anguish,  the  joy,  the  sense  which 
afflict  mankind  seemed  distilled  into  mellow  humor  and 
overhanging  sunshine.  Its  manifest  disuse,  its  sunny 
neglect,  its  evident  desire  to  bury  its  own  remains 
ander  the  sods  and  creepers  ;  its  tottering  monuments 
once  upright  and  firm  as  the  low-lying  Christians ;  its 
baby-stones  sunken  like  mumble-the-pegs,  —  all  gave 
the  impression  that  death  itself  was  so  old  and  so  obso 
lete  as  to  have  lost  its  sting.  Halstead  hailed  it  as  tke 
secret  spot  from  which  emanated  the  stillness  and  so 
lemnity  which  flooded  the  valley,  and  reviewed  its  tan 
gles  with  the  confidence  of  assured  immortality.  He 
was  fashioned  according  to  the  latest  pattern  of  life, 


38  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

and  he  smiled  at  the  quaintness  of  death.  lie  seemed 
to  himself  to  be  talking  aloud,  so  clearly  did  his 
thoughts  flow  in  that  otherwise  thoughtless  silence. 

One  hand  was  on  the  branch  of  a  crab-apple  tree,  and 
he  was  about  to  mount  to  the  higher  level  of  the  an 
cient  dead,  when  a  daub  of  invisible  blue  such  as  nature 
never  paints  upon  her  grave-yard  walls,  struck  across 
his  eye.  Pushing  aside  the  brambles  he  discovered 
that  the  foreign  coloring  was  the  dress  of  Miss  Rachel 
Desborough  Guerrin.  She  was  seated  upon  a  monu 
ment  of  slate  that  had  fallen  face  downward  upon  the 
wall.  Her  back  was  turned  toward  him,  and  her  so 
phisticated  shoes  projected  a  few  inches  into  the  spaces 
of  the  orchard.  Observing  this,  the  trespasser  be 
hind  her  suddenly  turned  and  went  strolling  off  down 
the  river,  wondering  as  he  came  within  range  of  her 
vision  if  her  clear-sighted  eyes  were  looking  at  him 
over  the  top  of  her  magazine.  He  was  sure  they  were, 
and  also  sure  of  a  certain  picturesqueness  in  his  appear 
ance  as  he  followed  a  meandering  path  by  the  water's 
edge. 

But  the  channel  of  his  inquisitiveness  was  changed, 
and  coming  after  a  time  to  some  marshy  ground  he  re 
traced  his  steps,  and  without  any  deliberate  intention  of 
so  doing  turned  again  to  the  wall  near  the  effective 
smattering  of  blue. 

"  I  supposed,"  he  said,  as  he  lifted  his  hat,  "  that 
you  had  gone  to  some  afternoon  service.  I  heard  more 
bells.  It  seems  I  was  mistaken." 

"Yes,"  assented  Miss  Guerrin,  smiling  sufficiently 
to  lead  him  to  make  a  further  remark. 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  39 

"  I  congratulate  you  upon  your  absence,"  he  went 
on,  still  holding  his  hat,  and  pausing  as  if  for  a  mere 
momentary  discontinuance  of  his  strolling. 

"  It  was  the  sunshine,"  explained  Rachel,  expecting 
him  to  go. 

"  The  true  religion  is  in  it,"  he  waited  to  say. 

"  Oh,  it  was  n't  that,"  she  answered ;  "  I  did  n't  ana 
lyze  it  to  better  my  excuse." 

"  I  not  only  congratulate  you,"  pursued  Halstead, 
"  I  congratulate  myself  too.  You  look  so  harmonious, 
you  make  one  ashamed  of  one's  distempers." 

"  Did  you  have  a  distemper  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  You  found  it  dull,"  suggested  Miss  Guerrin. 

"  Very,"  he  replied,  putting  on  his  hat. 

"  You  will  get  used  to  it,"  she  declared. 

"  I  hope  not." 

"  You  should  rather  hope  you  would.  We  are  all 
used  to  it." 

"  Should  I  ?  "  he  inquired,  coming  forward  and  lean 
ing  against  the  wall. 

"  Then  it  would  n't  seem  dull  any  more." 

"  What  would  prevent  ?  " 

"  You  would  begin  to  hear  the  chickens,  for  one 
thing,"  she  answered  with  an  expression  which  puzzled 
him.  "  They  make  it  very  lively." 

"  Happy  day  !  "  exclaimed  Halstead,  half  suspecting 
her  of  wit. 

"  They  would  take  the  place  in  your  ears  of  whistles 
and  omnibuses  and  the  sounds  of  the  streets,"  she  went 


40  AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

on.  "  It  is  really  very  noisy  here.  When  the  crick 
ets  and  frogs  begin,  you  can  scarcely  hear  yourself 
think." 

"  What  do  you  do  when  it  is  the  liveliest?" 

"  Oh,  I  am  a  part  of  it,"  she  answered,  —  "  of  the 
buzzing  and  droning  and  croaking." 

"  And  blooming,"  he  added,  looking  straight  ahea«I 
of  him  at  the  many  mounds  of  many  lengths. 

She  made  no  reply,  apparently  losing  him  altogether 
in  the  sweep  of  the  river,  and  he  wished  he  had  not 
been  so  ready  with  his  shallow  compliment.  He  also 
thought  that  if  she  too  had  lived  within  the  sound  of 
the  streets  and  had  said,  "  Oh,  I  'm  a  part  of  it,  —  of 
the  bowing  and  smiling  and  acting,"  she  could  not  have 
done  it  with  more  charming  grace. 

"  I  imagine,"  he  began  again,  "  that  it  was  n't  alto 
gether  because  of  the  sunshine,  that  you  happened  to  be 
here.  Is  n't  it  the  least  bit  prosy  yonder  in  your  hal 
lowed  rendezvous  ?  The  whole  congregation  sing  alto, 
eh  ?  Down  here  they  don't.  You  like  this  better." 

"  Are  we  a  congregation  ?  "  she  inquired. 

"  You  and  I  and  Deacon  Mayflower,  Concurrence 
Primrose,  and  all  the  rest,"  he  replied,  as  if  reading  the 
names  from  the  stones  about  them.  "  I  did  n't  know 
there  were  any  grave-yards  in  America.  I  thought 
they  were  all  in  Europe." 

"  I  am  a  very  good  friend  of  all  those  people  in 
there,"  she  said,  indicating  the  abode  of  the  obsolete. 

"Are  you?  Well,  their  singing  could  never  offend 
any  one." 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  41 

"  They  are  my  intimates,"  pursued  the  girl,  keep 
ing  her  eyes  upon  the  mounds.  "  There  is  Hannah 
Fletcher,  who  has  been  only  nineteen  since  seventeen 
hundred  and  eleven." 

"  Have  you  learned  the  art  of  remaining  nineteen 
for  that  length  of  time  ?  " 

"  I  have  missed  my  opportunity  for  that,"  she  de 
clared. 

"  Ah  !  "  observed  Halstead. 

"  I  am  twenty-two.  Is  it  proper  to  tell  how  old  one 
is?" 

"  If  one  is  only  twenty-two.  We  make  distinc 
tions." 

"  We  ?  "  she  repeated. 

"  We  who  do  what  is  proper,"  answered  the  young 
man. 

"  We  think  we  do  what  is  proper,  too,"  said  Rachel, 
"  but  I  fear  our  rules  are  different.  We  tell  how  old 
we  are  till  it  gets  to  be  terrible." 

"You  are  a  terrible  family,"  returned  Halstead. 
"  You  have  no  respect  for  vanity.  You  make  no  al 
lowance  for  youth.  You  endeavor  to  be  always  the 
same  wise  age.  You  are  good.  We  are  proper.  There 
is  a  difference." 

"  I  wonder  if  that  is  true,"  said  Rachel. 

"  I  am  surprised  that  you  should  even  wish  to  IB- 
main  nineteen,"  he  continued.  "  If  you  would  avoid 
the  twenties  after  the  manner  of  your  quiet  friend 
yonder,  I  am  afraid  you  don't  appreciate  your  advan 
tages.  Perhaps  you  are  not  getting  the  worth  of  your 
time." 


42  AN    EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  I  did  n't  say  that  I  wished  it,"  replied  the  girl  with 
some  reserve. 

"  Did  you  never  think  you  would  like  to  meet  some 
one  who  was  absolutely  living  ?  "  he  pursued.  "  Would 
one  of  the  present  century  be  distasteful  to  you  ?  " 

"  To  what  century  do  you  suppose  I  belong  ?  " 

"  I  have  no  right  to  suppose  anything  about  you," 
said  Halstead,  raising  his  discriminating,  humid  eyes 
from  the  boots,  with  whose  type  he  had  long  been  ac 
quainted,  to  the  face  with  whose  type  he  acknowledged 
himself  a  stranger.  "  I  have  been  trying  for  days  to 
keep  my  suppositions  away  from  you.  My  ignorance 
of  you  is  profound." 

But  Rachel  did  not  seem  inclined  further  to  en 
lighten  him. 

"  Why  did  you  say,"  she  asked  presently,  "  that  you 
hoped  you  would  n't  get  used  to  it,  —  to  the  dull 
ness  ?  " 

"  I  thought  that  implied  accepting  it  with  resignation, 
—  partaking  of  it,  in  short,"  he  answered.  "  I  could  n't 
do  that  without  a  struggle,  you  know.  I  should  look 
about  me.  I  should  adopt  some  means,  —  do  something, 
—  enjoy  something.  One  only  needs  to  be  a  little  in 
genious.  You  see  I  did  n't  endure  it  long  as  it  was. 
I  came  here.  You  must  n't  fear  though  that  I  am  al 
ways  going  to  call  upon  you  for  relief  " 

"  You  would  be  too  ingenious  for  that,"  she  replied. 
fc  You  would  know  that  always  would  be  too  often  for 
success." 

Halstead   looked   at   her  with  astonishment  which 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  43 

was,  perhaps,  slightly  patronizing,  He  thought  her 
remark  exceeding  pertinent,  and  wondered  if  she  knew 
how  pertinent,  or  if  it  were  one  of  the  truths  such  as 
fall  from  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings. 

"  I  don't  know  how  to  take  that,"  he  said.  "  I 
should  n't  wonder  if  you  were  clever." 

"  Oh,  yes  you  would,"  protested  Rachel,  "  you  would 
say  to  yourself,  That  can't  be." 

"  Upon  my  word,  I  would  n't.  —  not  now.  I  am 
convinced.  I  suspect  you  have  inherited  the  bright 
ness  extinguished  below,"  and  he  nodded  again  toward 
the  populous  inclosure. 

"  I  wish  I  had,"  said  the  girl. 

"  What  would  you  do  with  it  ?  " 

"  I  would  shine,"  she  answered. 

"  Before  men  ?  "  added  Halstead,  half  inquiringly, 
half  affirmatively. 

Her  idea,  however,  had  not  the  definiteness  he  gave 
it,  and  not  knowing  whether  to  accept  or  repel  a  sug 
gestion  capable  of  such  varied  import,  she  said  noth 
ing.  He  thought  he  had  never  seen  a  young  woman 
capable  of  such  sudden  and  complete  silences.  She  did 
not  even  seem  to  be  trying  to  say  anything.  Her 
thoughts,  he  would  have  said,  were  going  on  unembar 
rassed,  without  help  or  hindrance  from  without,  and 
about  those  thoughts  he  was  still  curious. 

''  Are  you  going  to  let  me  remain  in  my  ignorance  ?  " 
he  inquired,  "  or  are  you  going  to  tell  me  what  your 
life  has  been  like  ?  " 

"  Like  nothing  with  which  you  are  familiar,"  she  re- 
piied. 


44  AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  I  am  familiar  with  several  varieties  of  life,  '  lie 
persisted.  "  Perhaps  I  could  be  made  to  understand." 

"  I  don't  doubt  that,"  Rachel  declared.  She  looked 
down  at  his  light  mustache  and  at  the  cameo  ring  on 
his  finger,  and  again  her  imagination  went  off  into  the 
spaces  through  which  the  smiling  person  before  hei 
had  carelessly  come.  She  peopled  them  with  charm 
ing  figures,  all  rapidly  gliding  about.  With  exquisite 
women  nodding  their  acquiescent  heads,  with  ambi 
tious,  quick-stepping  men,  with  beggars,  with  drivers, 
—  they  were  all  drivers — with  buyers  and  sellers, 
with  loafers,  with  passengers,  and  in  the  motley  assem 
blage  her  interest  made  no  marked  distinctions. 

"  You  have  always  lived  here  ?  "  asked  Halstead,  as 
if  to  make  the  contrast  greater. 

"  For  generations." 

He  would  have  liked  next  to  ask  her  where  she  got 
her  dresses  and  who  sent  her  her  hats,  which  becoming 
articles  seemed  to  have  no  possible  connection  with 
Beaudeck  ;  but  he  contented  himself  with  mute  spec 
ulation  upon  those  important  points. 

"  Except  when  I  was  away  at  school,"  she  added 
shortly. 

"  Ah  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  that  is  it.  Were  you  iway 
ong  ?  " 

"  The  difference  was  not  so  great  as  you  may  sup 
pose.  It  was  very  much  like  this,  —  more  so  if  any 
thing.  The  house  was  larger.  It  was  farther  in  the 
country.  From  the  top  of  the  hill  you  could  see  only 
hills.  It  was  the  country,  —  everywhere  the  country 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  45 

There  was  even  a  grave-yard  across  the  road."  Rachel 
smiled.  She  seemed  to  be  talking  of  herself  in  the 
half-humorous  spirit  of  a  third  person,  and  he  felt  that 
he  was  being  taken  into  her  inner  confidence.  Theie 
ivas  an  emptiness  there  which  made  him  laugh.  She 
laughed  too.  She  did  n't  know  why.  They  seemed 
to  be  putting  their  heads  together  over  the  very  simple 
record  of  a  very  simple  person. 

"  I  visited  once  in  Indiana,"  she  went  on,  "  and  once 
in  Iowa." 

"  My  poor  child  !  "  he  interrupted. 

"  That  was  when  I  was  very  small,"  she  continued, 
taking  no  notice  of  his  pity.  "  I  was  in  Boston,  too, 
one  winter,  but  we  knew  scarcely  any  one.  When  I 
walked  about  among  the  shops  I  laughed  to  think  how 
green  I  was.  It  was  all  I  could  do  to  keep  the  proper 
colors  on  the  surface." 

"  There  is  no  doubt  about  the  propriety  of  the  colors 
on  the  surface,"  said  Halstead,  —  "  art  or  nature,  —  in 
their  perfection  the  resemblance  is  very  close."  And 
again  he  looked  away  to  give  his  speech  a  greater  in 
direction. 

All  the  same  it  seemed  to  have  the  effect  of  check 
ing  Rachel's  light  confession,  and  there  was  another 
pause. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  Halstead  shortly.  "  I 
won't  do  that  again.  I  meant  it,  but  it  offends  perhaps 
the  —  the  greenness  underneath.  If  you  were  used  to 
it  you  would  n't  mind." 

(<  Then  what  is  the  use  of  getting  used  to  it  ?  "  she 
inquired. 


46  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  You  require  a  man  to  be  more  than  honest,"  he  re-          , 
turned.    "  I  confess  my  standard  has  been  much  lo\ver. 
I  have  n't  always  been  even  that.     With  you  I  '11  go 
farther.     I  '11  be  punctilious." 

The  afternoon  sun  struck  athwart  the  crowded  stones 
and  filled  the  sunken  graves  with  shadows.  It  also 
struck  athwart  the  river,  the  garden,  and  the  lithe  fig 
ure  of  Miss  Guerrin,  and  Halstead  with  his  arms 
folded  across  the  top  of  the  wall,  took  into  his  now 
appeased  consciousness  the  various  charming  features 
on  which  the  sunshine  slanted.  He  did  not  know  when 
he  had  been  contented  with  so  little.  He  was  not  even 
smoking  nor  thinking  of  smoking.  From  somewhere 
on  the  hills  came  the  cries  of  sheep,  and  not  a  moment 
of  silence  intervened  between  the  successive  bleats  now 
near  and  now  far.  The  tender  leaves  of  grass  were 
very  green.  A  little  breeze  came  along  and  rustled 
the  birches.  A  bumble-bee  buzzed  out  of  a  tulip.  A 
plover  whistled  down  among  the  water-grasses. 

"Do  you  know,"  he  began,  "I  like  it  here  im 
mensely.  There  is  a  perpetual  lullaby  crooning  through 
these  valleys.  The  mountains  for  one's  friends ;  the 
Bummer  for  one's  sweetheart,  —  it  is  delightful." 

Rachel  began  to  laugh.  "  To  be  sure,"  he  added 
catching  at  her  meaning,  "  it  is  n't  an  hour  since  I 
thought  it  tame,  but  that  does  n't  prevent  my  liking  it 
now.  To  decry  a  thing  one  moment  and  like  it  the 
aext  is  nothing  unusual ;  beside  it  has  ceased  to  be 
tame." 

"  I  like  it  too,"  said  Rachel,  "  except  sometimes." 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  47 

"  And  why  not  sometimes  ?  " 

"  We  seem  so,  —  so  unnecessary,  you  know." 

"  That  shows  that  you  are  self-seeking ;  that  you 
have  feeling;  that  you  would  like  to  be  appreciated. 
T  would  never  have  accused  you  of  that.  You  will 
luive  to  resort  to  the  living.  There  is  nothing,  to  my 
notion,  like  the  voice  that  says  Come  on,  my  friend." 

"  Come,"  said  Rachel  rising,  "  we  must  go  back." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  it  then  ?  " 

"  Say  what,  sir?" 

"  Come  on,  my  friend." 

"  I  had  not  thought  of  it." 

"  I  would  like  to  insist  upon  the  formula." 

"  I  would  never  think,"  she  said,  "  of  taking  the 
lead  like  that,  and  calling  back  to  you." 

"  Then,  with  your  permission,  I  '11  do  it  myself," 
and  he  held  up  his  hands  to  lift  her  from  the  wall. 

Halstead  found  Dayton  just  where  he  left  him,  and 
on  coming  out  of  the  inner  room  where  he  had  been 
washing  the  tansy  off  his  hands  (he  was  very  partic 
ular  about  his  hands),  he  recounted  in  part  his  after 
noon  experience.  He  was  in  a  royal  good  humor,  and 
although  his  royal  good  humors  never  betrayed  them 
selves  aggressively,  Dayton  generally  enjoyed  his  so 
ciety  best  when  his  spirits  were  low.  At  their  high 
est,  he  felt  like  an  alien,  at  their  level  he  felt  cheered, 
entertained,  but  at  their  lowest,  which  was  after  all 
but  a  slight  recognition  of  the  more  serious  thoughts 
with  which  spirits  are  freighted,  he  felt  drawn  toward 
him  with  a  friendship  which  was  perhaps  the  strongest 


48  AN   EARNEST   TKIFLER. 

attachment  of  his  detached  life.  "  God  never  made 
but  one  Nathan  Halstead,"  he  once  exclaimed,  in  an 
ebullition  of  sentiment.  To  which  Nathan,  when  his 
sister  repeated  it,  responded  "  No  wonder  He  quit." 

On  this  present  occasion,  his  humor  was  so  good  as 
to  seem  almost  fantastic  to  the  sober  mind  of  his 
friend.  "  Well,"  he  began,  "  I  let  down  the  bars  of 
that  pasture  this  afternoon,  and  went  in,  —  a  good 
ways  in.  The  pasture  you  described  as  Miss  Guer- 
rin's  acquaintance,"  he  added,  seeing  the  blankness 
upon  Dayton's  face.  "  It  is  a  delightfully  rural  spot, 
—  no  worn  places,  no  hollows,  no  swamps.  You  get 
in  and  you  are  in  no  hurry  to  get  out  again.  Some 
thing  detains  you.  You  have  a  fresh,  leisurely  feeling. 
You  feel  like  a  boy  up  the  creek  on  a  Saturday.  She 
is  more  simple  than  I  supposed,  —  more  so  than  you 
would  think  from  her  make-up,  particularly  her  shoes. 
I  am  bound  to  believe  from  the  style  of  her  shoes,  that 
there  is  a  bit  of  the  boulevard  in  her  intentions.  She 
knows  nobody.  She  loves  the  weather.  She  listens 
to  the  chickens,  the  frogs,  and  the  crickets.  But  back 
of  it  all  I  am  bound  to  believe  she  quietly  craves  our 
monstrous  amusements.  She  looks  like  it.  She  smiles 
like  it.  Her  profile  alone  would  make  it  impossible 
for  her  to  be  happy  in  obscurity.  When  she  projects 
it  on  the  vision  of  a  feeble  man  like  me,  he  is  afraid. 
I  think  she  must  have  bent  her  full  face  upon  you  the 
day  you  drove  the  sheep;  if  I  remember  rightly  you 
were  not  intimidated.  I  talked  to  her  for  an  hour, 
and,  unlike  you,  I  remember  what  she  said.  She  said 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLEB.  49 

she,  was  twenty-two.  She  said  she  haJ  been  away  at 
school.  She  said  she  would  like  to  shine.  She  had  on 
a  hat  that  came  over  her  eyes,  and  a  blue  flannel  dress." 

"  You  should  tell  all  that  to  her  mother,"  said  Day 
ton,  without  looking  up. 

"Or  lo  her  aunts.  There  is  always  a  perspective  of 
aunts'  ''  agreed  Ilalstead. 

"  But  whatever  you  do,"  the  young  fellow  rambled 
on  in  his  original  tone,  "  you  must  n't  bow  and  pay 
her  compliments.  She  does  n't  know  what  to  do  with 
pretty  speeches  like  most  of  her  sisters.  I  tried  it, 
naturally  enough,  and  she  rejected  them  with  silence. 
I  tell  you  that  you  may  avoid  a  like  profanity." 

"  You  need  n't  put  your  remarks  in  the  form  of  ad 
vice,  unless  you  mean  to  follow  it  yourself,"  interpo 
lated  Dayton. 

"You  said  you  had  looked  at  her,  but  perhaps  not 
finally,"  returned  his  comrade. 

"  Nonsense  !  "  said  Dayton,  who  was  made  strangely 
uncomfortable  by  this  pleasant  recital.  He  remem 
bered  sitting  once  near  a  shrill  clarionet,  when  he  feit 
the  same  way.  "If  it  is  profanity  to  discuss  her  per 
sonal  qualities  in  talking  with  her,  had  n't  we  better 
drop  her  ?  " 

That  very  same  evening,  Halstead  again  saw  her 
upon  the  front  piazza,  where  she  had  been  walking  up 
and  dDwn. 

"  You  want  to  give  a  greater  value  to  my  time," 
ghe  said  to  him  when  he  asked  permission  to  join  her. 

"  And  to  mine,"  he  answered.     "  I  am  one  of  those 


50  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLEU. 

gregarious  mortals  to  whom  solitude  means  time 
wasted.  You  live  in  New  England,  you  ought  to 
hate  waste  of  any  sort." 

"  I  ought  to  hate  it  for  myself,  but  to  encourage  it 
in  my  neighbors."  . 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say,  then,  that  solitude  on  my 
part  would  be  to  your  advantage  ?  " 

"  If  I  did  I  could  not  say  it  so  well  as  that." 

"  But  did  you  ?  " 

"  What  I  really  think,"  she  said,  slackening  her  pace 
and  putting  her  hands  upon  her  elbows,  "  is  that  it 
would  be  much  to  my  advantage  that  you  should  not 
be  solitary.  I  would  like  to  know  the  things  that  you 
do." 

"  No  you  would  n't,"  he  answered.  "  I  know  some 
things  that  I  would  rather  not  know  myself,  —  some 
tolerably  burdensome  things.  I  am  coming  to  you  to 
revive  my  ignorance.  I  have  n't  been  so  ignorant  in 
ten  years  as  I  was  this  afternoon." 

"  Ignorance  is  n't  so  —  so  communicable,"  she  re 
joined,  pausing  at  the  end  of  the  piazza. 

"Yes  it  is,"  he  gently  insisted,  raising  one  arm 
against  a  pillar,  "  it  is  a  feeling,  —  a  young,  humble 
sort  of  feeling." 

Rachel  raised  her  glance  to  his  face  and  found  him 
slightly  smiling,  rather  with  his  eyes  than  with  his 
mouth.  She  wondered  why  it  was  that  in  their  con 
versation  they  both  so  constantly  smiled.  "It  is  n't 
ihat  with  me,"  she  replied  ;  " .  t  is  a  greedy,  hungry 
feeling.  I  want  to  feed  it." 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  51 

"  Don't  do  it,"  he  said. 

"  Why  not  ?  " 

"  Don't  do  it,"  he  repeated. 

"  One  would  not  expect  you  to  feel  humble  and  to 
like  it,"  said  Rachel  at  length. 

"  Neither  would  one  expect  you  to  be  rapacious," 
be  retorted. 

"  I  am  not,  —  not  always." 

"  Nor  am  I  humble  always,  —  only  when  the  sun 
shines  on  grave-yard  walls.  Then  I  would  like  to  be 
a  Puritan,  —  a  Puritan  peasant.' ' 

"  And  when  it  goes  down  behind  the  hills,"  returned 
Rachel  with  a  wish  born  upon  the  instant,  "  I  would 
like  to  be  a  woman  of  the  world." 

"  There  are  many  different  species  of  that  beautiful 
being,"  answered  Halstead. 

"  Of  course  I  would  like  to  be  the  finest." 

"  It  is  down  now,"  he  cried,  his  affinity  for  women 
of  the  world  stealing  over  him.  He  looked  through 
the  warm  dusk  at  the  bright  horizon,  and  back  again  to 
the  face  turned  toward  him  with  parted  lips ;  then 
gathering  a  handful  of  the  summer  ethei  he  blew  it 
back  toward  the  golden  west  with  a  careless,  contem 
plative  air.  "The  world,  if  you  had  it,"  he  said, 
"  might  not  please  you  more  than  so  much  atmos 
phere." 

"  Oh,  I  have  breathed  miles  upon  miles  of  the  at 
mosphere,"  said  Miss  Rachel  Guerrin.  "  I  know  the 
pleasure  of  that ! " 

"  And  I  have  been  over  miles  upon  miles  of  the 


52  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

aether  territory,  and  know  the  pleasure  of  that.  That 
is  why  I  envy  you." 

"You  envy  me  for  amusement,"  she  answered 
"  That  is  where  you  show  your  ingenuity  again." 

"  Upon  my  word ! "  exclaimed  the  young  man, 
thinking  how  efficacious  in  this  case  his  ingenuity  was. 

"  You  make  me  feel  blank,  —  unfurnished,"  the  girl 
Went  on,  surprised  at  her  own  communicativeness.  "  I 
told  you  I  was  twenty-two,  but  on  review  I  am  only 
eleven.  I  wish  that  a  great  deal  had  happened  to  me, 
and  that  I  had  seen  and  known  a  great  many  people 
and  places,  but  I  have  n't.  You  see  I  have  thought  of 
myself  a  great  deal.  Mine  is  n't  much  of  an  ambition, 
of  course,"  she  added ;  "  but  it  seems  to  me  that  if  one 
is  too  comfortable  to  have  an  occupation  which  one 
follows  for  dear  life's  sake,  the  next  best  thing  is  to  be 
very,  very  gay  in  a  social  way,  —  to  know  a  great 
many  people  and  places  as  you  do." 

"  Don't  put  it  in  that  way,"  said  Halstead.  "  There 
are  only  two  classes  of  persons  that  it  is  worth  while  to 
be.  One  is  the  women  whom  men  conspire  to  lift 
above  all  '  occupation  for  dear  life's  sake  ' ;  as  you  say  ; 
and  the  other  the  men  with  the  ability  to  keep  them 
there." 

"  I  wonder  if  that  is  true,"  said  Rachel. 

"  Just  as  you  like,"  answered  Halstead.  "  Tt  is  a 
matter  of  opinion.  I  give  you  mine.  Meanwhile," 
ho  continued,  "before  you  attain  the  full  dimensions 
of  the  resplendent,  but  perturbed  being  you  desire  to 
be,  I  would  like  to  learn  the  secret  of  your  present  se 
renity." 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  53 

"  For  that  you  should  go  to  aunt  Hannah,"  she  ad 
vised. 

He  hesi;ated  a  moment,  then  laughed  rather  to  him 
self.  "  I  believe  I  should,"  he  declared.  "  I  '11  go 
now." 

He  went  down  the  steps,  and  ascending  the  piazza 
of  the  wing,  walked  its  length,  then  retraced  his  steps 
Dayton  was  within  and  he  tapped  upon  the  window. 

"  I  believe,"  he  said,  "  that  I  '11  go  up  and  look  at 
that  house.  Which  way  is  it  ?  " 

"  All  right,"  answered  Dayton,  "  I  '11  go  with  you." 
And  the  two  friends  started  up  the  road  together. 

There  was  nothing  said  on  the  way  about  the  object 
of  their  journey,  and  it  might  have  been  supposed  dur 
ing  the  first  quarter  of  an  hour  that  they  were  a  couple 
of  Turks  in  the  mountains  of  Roumania  with  such 
close  interest  did  their  conversation  keep  to  the  war 
then  in  progress  between  the  Sultan  and  the  Emperor 
of  all  the  Russias.  From  this  it  branched  off  to  the 
management  of  the  Suez  Canal ;  thence,  using  M.  de 
Lesseps  as  a  conjunction,  to  the  Grand  Central  Asiatic 
Railway  Society  and  the  projected  road  between  Oren 
burg  and  Peshawur  by  way  of  Samarkand.  Halstead, 
slipping  his  arm  in  that  of  his  chief  with  a  virtuous 
sense  of  carrying  out  a  well-advised  resolution,  told 
some  anecdotes  of  the  oil-wells  on  the  Caspian  Sea  : 
which  Dayton  followed  with  some  peculiarities  of  the 
river  Ozus  ;  and  when  they  came  to  the  object  of  their 
expedition  they  were  still  rambling  over  the  Asiatic 
steppes  Through  the  dilapidated  gate  of  their  pro- 


54  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

posed  residence  they  reentered  once  more  the  land  of 
the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave,  and  Halstead 
boldly  said  he  thought  they  might  remove  their  effects 
at  once  —  unless  it  was  altogether  too  far  from  the 
village,  —  and  did  he,  Dayton,  suppose  it  would  be  pos 
sible  to  find  a  cook. 

Dayton  produced  a  key,  and  they  went  through  the 
rooms  of  the  lower  floor,  making  an  immense  noise 
through  the  dark  recesses. 

Halstead  would  have  walked  with  a  lighter  tread, 
and  have  spoken  with  a  less  tremendous  voice,  but  his 
companion  was  no  such  respecter  of  the  musty  silence. 
He  opened  the  door  of  the  stair- way  and  shouted 
through  the  reverberating  passage  that  it  was  not  worth 
while  to  go  into  the  attic,  that  the  rooms  below  were 
more  than  enough. 

"  It  would  be  a  great  lark,"  echoed  Nathan  with  an 
irrepressible  chill.  And  then  lighting  their  cigars  they 
trudged  back  through  the  gorge. 

When  they  were  again  in  their  room  with  the  cur 
tains  drawn,  Halstead  put  his  hands  behind  him  and 
looked  around,  as  in  a  gallery,  at  the  antiquities  on  the 
wall.  "  If  we  do  stay,"  he  finally  observed,  "  we  must 
•end  tb.3  Cesnola  Collection  to  our  hostess  in  the  fall  " 


V. 

EARLY  each  morning  Dayton  and  Halstead  went  off 
together  to  their  bridges  and  tunnels,  returning  only 
at  night,  or,  as  was  frequently  the  case,  not  returning 
for  several  days.  There  was  some  exceedingly  heavy 
work  to  be  done  in  the  vicinity  of  Beaudeck  which  bid 
fair  to  detain  them  in  that  section  for  months  to  come. 

The  village  itself,  with  its  gangs  of  laborers,  began 
to  look  more  like  a  mining  station  in  Arizona,  than  a 
respectable  New  England  town ;  but  the  sight  of  the 
men  as  they  tramped  in  ragged  procession,  was  beauti 
ful  in  the  eyes  of  the  hopeful  townsmen.  Great  wag 
ons,  loaded  with  dynamite,  passed  mysteriously  through 
the  streets  in  the  dead  of  night,  and  at  intervals  during 
the  day,  loud  explosions  ripped  through  the  aged  si 
lence  of  the  valley.  livery  where  there  was  progress 
and  bustle. 

At  the  Desborough  place  as  elsewhere,  a  new  and 
livelier  atmosphere  was  created,  and  a  breeze  fresh 
from  Boston  seemed  to  be  blowing  through  the  house. 
Rachel  no  longer  carried  a  sense  of  loneliness  around 
with  her,  and  never  once  felt  that  her  youth  was  going 
to  waste.  Although  learning  nothing  new  of  her  own 
Knowledge,  she  felt  that  something  was  slowly  happen 
ing,  —  something  with  great  power  to  awaken  and  to 
agitate.  She  no  longer  even  cared  to  get  beyond  ner 


56  AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

usual  circumference ;  and  instead  of  going  out  into  the 
great  unknown,  she  would  close  the  valley  at  both 
ends,  lest  some  of  its  charm  should  ooze  away. 

During  this  time,  she  heard  a  great  deal  of  worldly 
talk,  which  kept  a  commotion  in  her  veins,  —  the  sort 
of  commotion  it  seemed  which  went  on  in  city  thor 
oughfares.  When  she  went  out  upon  the  piazza,  or 
upon  the  lawn  after  tea,  her  presence  seemed  to  con 
jure  another  presence  into  the  same  vicinage ;  and  if 
she  stooped  to  look  at  a  butterfly,  or  a  lady-bird,  she 
was  sure  not  to  remain  alone  in  her  brief  admira 
tion  of  those  fly-away  objects  ;  even  when  she  called 
her  dog  he  never  came  unaccompanied.  She  heard 
Von  Biilow  compared  with  Liszt.  She  heard  of  the 
Grand  Opera  in  Paris,  and  the  people  who  walked 
in  the  foyer.  She  heard  of  George  Sand  and  Alfred 
de  Musset.  She  heard  of  a  steerage  passenger  who, 
going  ashore  at  the  last  moment  for  some  forgotten 
bundle  of  rags,  was  left  by  the  departing  ship,  which 
carried  her  seven  little  paddies  to  an  unknown  land. 
She  heard  of  a  boot-black  whose  name  was  Alexan 
der  Von  Humboldt ;  and  she  heard  of  certain  roulette 
tables.  "  I  only  had  ten  dollars  in  the  pool,"  Hal- 
t  tead  said  to  her  with  a  grimace,  "  and  if  I  had  won 
I  would  have  had  a  thousand.  I  call  that  doing  pretty 
well  for  me.  It  is  as  near  as  I  ever  came  to  a  fine 
speculation." 

He  told  good  and  bad  in  the  same  tone,  and  with  a 
strange  indifference  to  their  boundary  lines,  as  drawn 
in  Beaudeck ;  and  Rachel  listened  with  wide  eyes  and 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  57 

anappeased  appetite.  Now  and  then  there  were  deep 
rifts  in  the  smiling  surface  of  his  meaning  over  which 
she  lightly  skipped  without  looking  down ;  and  now 
and  then  there  were  subtle  barbs  which  seemed  to 
aim  at  susceptibilities  in  her  nature  that  had  hitherto 
been  hidden  in  the  dark 

"  There  is  n't  much  of  me  to  know,"  she  said  to  him 
one  day,  "  but  there  is  a  great  deal  to  experiment 
upon.  I  believe  what  you  like  best  in  me  is  Ahe  visi 
ble  effect  of  your  own  wit." 

"  Never  mind,1'  he  said,  "  what  I  like  best  in  you. 
I  hesitate  to  inquire.  You  are  a  very  misleading  per 
son.  By  nature  you  are  one  thing ;  by  education  an 
other.  You  should  forego  one  or  the  other,  and  stand 
out  clearly  for  what  you  are.  You  carry  a  watering- 
pot  and  a  trowel,  but  I  suspect  you  of  the  deepest  arts. 
While  you  pretend  to  care  immensely  to  hear  of  the 
outside  world,  you  and  your  garden  together  are  ob 
scuring  what  fragmentary  memories  I  have.  Is  it 
these  fragrant  stuffs,  these  infernal  herbs,  whose  roots 
you  dig  about  ?  I  am  losing  both  mind  and  ambi 
tion.  All  I  ask  is  to  vegetate  in  your  garden.  The 
other  day,  down  at  the  junction,  there  came  up  to  me 
with  outstretched  hand  a  sleek  fellow,  with  an  eye 
glass,  and  hair  brushed  back  like  one  of  Germany's 
transcendental  sons.  I  felt  like  saying,  '  Who  are 
you  ? '  Yet  we  were  intimate  in  January.  I  am  for 
getting,  —  I  don't  even  remember  what  I  am  forgetting. 
Those  professions  of  yours  are  all  humbug.  You  don't 
care  a  marigold  for  Paris.  You  shrug  your  shoulders 


58  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

lit  Boston.  What  you  want  is  a  disciple  who  finds  re- 
flections  in  hollyhocks,  and  takes  pleasure  in  pastures ! 
You  want  me  to  eat  your  poppies." 

"I  want  nothing  of  the  kind,"  quickly  protested 
Rachel.  "  Vegetate  if  you  like,  but  don't  accuse  me 
of  arts  that  I  have  not,  and  would  not  have.  I  hate 
arts." 

"  Now  you  speak  like  the  holder  of  the  watering- 
pot,"  cried  Halstead.  "  All  women  have  arts." 

"They  don't  willfully  use  them,"  she  answered 
warmly. 

"  That  might  come  from  the  mouth  of  the  watering- 
pot  itself.  I  think  they  do.  You,  for  instance,  with 
yours,  might  do  me  good,"  he  added  gently.  "  The 
countryman  you  create  is  better  than  the  civilian  that 
was." 

"  I  would  not  pretend  to  do  you  good.  You  are  too 
finished,  too,  —  what  shall  I  say  ?  All  the  good  that 
could  be  done  you  was  done  long  ago.  It  is  n't  with 
you  yourself  I  have  to  do.  It  is  with  what  you  have 
seen,  with  what  you  have  heard." 

"  Your  argument,"  said  Halstead,  "  is  a  little  close 
Do  you  think  you  can  quite  make  the  distinction,  capa 
ble  as  you  are  ?  Do  you  mean  to  accept  the  parts  and 
repudiate  the  whole  ?  I  am  a  mere  man.  You  must 
think  well  or  ill  of  me,  myself." 

Rachel  did  not  immediately  answer.  Then  she 
called  her  dog.  "  Here,  Duke  !  "  she  said.  "  Watch 
this  poor  gentleman  who  has  lost  his  mind.  I  am  go 
ing  in  the  house." 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  59 

But  Rachel  did  not  remain  in  the  house.  She  had 
no  fancy  for  the  house,  and  a  few  evenings  later  found 
her  again  raising  her  head  among  the  sprays  of  the 
garden.  It  was  going  to  rain,  and  she  looked  about 
her  at  the  clouds.  The  air  was  moist  and  warm  and 
heavy.  There  was  no  dew  and  not  much  light. 

The  two  engineers  were  upon  the  side  piazza,  smok 
ing,  reading,  idling,  and  both  from  time  to  time  looked 
toward  the  lilacs  and  the  peonies.  Halstead  frowned 
over  his  paper,  and  the  angry  coal  crept  fast  the  length 
of  his  cigar.  Dayton  read  on.  It  seemed  to  the 
younger  man  that  before  he  could  descend  the  piazza 
steps  he  must  first  knock  down  his  chief.  Dayton's 
presence  was  at  times  a  most  unpleasant  protest,  — 
none  the  less  that  he  was  ignorant  of  it.  But  on  this 
occasion  he  was  not  ignorant  of  it,  for  presently  he 
rose  and  looked  directly  at  the  figure  moving  about 
among  the  intersecting  paths.  It  seemed  as  if  he 
would  say  something  if  he  could  find  words  sufficient 
ly  exact.  She  had  on  no  hat  and  was  swinging  her 
hands  in  front  of  her,  as  she  walked,  with  slow,  in 
audible  claps.  Even  at  that  distance  she  was  an  at 
tractive  object. 

Miss  Rachel  Guerrin  was  neither  light  nor  dark. 
When  her  nature  was  entirely  in  repose,  which  was  not 
often,  her  complexion  was  clear,  almost  pale  ;  and  in  the 
multitudes  of  other  times  it  depended  entirely  upon 
what  her  emotions  were, — their  natm-e,  their  extent. 
She  had  a  small  head  well  poised  upon  her  shoulders, 
and  the  brown  hair  which  grew  thick  about  her  fore- 


60  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

head  had  waves  peculiar  to  itself.  Her  incomparable 
profile,  with  the  chin  well  up,  suggested  a  nature  in 
search  of  the  higher  and  more  vigorous  virtues ;  but 
her  full  face  belonged  to  a  less  exacting  and  less 
formed  character,  and  the  eager  expressions  chasing 
each  other  across  it  betrayed  those  forces  within  which 
conflict  with  our  slight  intelligence  and  give  life  its 
sharpness.  She  looked  about  her  with  eyes  that  ap 
parently  wanted  to  see  more  than  was  presented  to 
a  casual  glance,  in  full  confidence  that  she  must  see 
much  if  her  vision  were  nicely  adjusted  to  the  depths. 
Perhaps  after  all  her  attractiveness  was  not  due  so 
much  to  her  features  as  to  a  certain  completeness,  a 
succinct  individuality  and  an  air  of  appreciative  atten 
tion  which  she  bestowed  upon  the  world  in  passing. 
She  dressed  well,  perhaps  a  trifle  severely,  since  there 
was  about  her  no  floating,  diaphanous  drapery,  and  no 
random  curls  or  ribbons.  Her  figure  as  yet  was  rather 
thin,  and  it  was  doubtful  if  it  would  ever  round  to  the 
fullness  of  the  woman  serene.  Halstead  thought  not. 

Dayton  stared  a  few  moments  rubbing  his  chin,  then, 
as  if  the  desired  words  did  not  come  to  him,  turned  on 
his  heel  and  started  towards  the  door. 

"  You  need  n't  take  yourself  in,"  said  Halstead  look 
ing*  up.  "  I  would  go  just  as  soon  with  you  gaping 
after  me." 

"  Why  don't  you  go,  if  you  are  going  ?  "  retorted 
Dayton.  "  I  'm  not  your  keeper.  I  hate  to  feel  that 
you  suspect  me  of  spying  after  you  with  secret  re 
proach.  I  'm  not  your  keeper.  It 's  no  affair  of  mine- 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  <51 

If  she  chooses  to  show  you  all  the  ants  and  fish-worms 
about  the  premises  by  all  means  let  her.  No  doubt 
she  likes  it.  So  do  you.  So  do  I ;  but  it  irritates  me 
to  be  a  third  party,  an  on-looker,  whom  you  suspect  of 
Biieaking  opposition.  Ten  chances  to  one  she  is  ex 
pecting  you  now  while  you  sit  there  arguing.  My  dear 
fellow,  I  am  not  braced  on  the  side  of  old  women  and 
strait-jackets.  She  waits.  Maud  waits.  The  red  rose 
cries,  the  white  rose  weeps,  and  the  black  bat,  night, 
does  something  else.  Why  are  you  here  ?  Why  don't 
you  travel  ?  I  believe  in  you.  My  faith  could  move 
mountains.  Bestir  yourself.  I  beg  of  you  go,  if  you 
are  going." 

"  You  think,"  said  Halstead,  "  that  the  attentions  of 
a  young  man  of  society  are  best  bestowed  upon  those 
accustomed  to  their  happy  inconsequence.  You  think 
that  I  am  turning  the  hospitality  of  your  friends  into 
a  diversion  for  myself." 

"  I  don't  if  you  don't,"  returned  Dayton.  "  You 
know  yourself  best." 

"  Sometimes  I  fancy  that  she  is  coolly  studying  me," 
Halstead  rejoined.  "  You  may  be  sure  she  gets  as 
much  diversion  as  she  gives." 

"  I  don't  doubt  that." 

"  What  is  it  you  doubt,  then  ?  I  have  a  conscience, 
—  you  are  too  serious." 

"  You  are  losing  time,"  said  Dayton.  "  Miss  Gu<;r- 
i-in,  I  think,  has  found  a  beetle."  And  nodding  toward 
the  stooping  figure  in  the  garden,  he  turned  and  went 
within. 


62  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

Halstead  drew  his  hat  down  over  his  eyes,  passed 
down  the  steps,  and  a  moment  later  was  bowing  before 
the  young  woman  under  discussion. 

About  an  hour  afterward,  when  their  walk  had  led 
them  down  to  the  river  and  back  again  to  a  seat 
between  two  beeches,  Halstead,  moved  perhaps  by 
thoughts  which  Dayton  suggested,  aided  by  contrition 
for  sundry  handsome  speeches,  of  more  recent  date, 
suddenly  broke  off  his  discourse,  and  began  again  in  a 
dry,  light  tone. 

"  I  don't  know,"  he  said,  "  what  I  am  running  on 
like  this  for.  I  don't  know  why  I  came  out  here, 
where  the  fire-flies  kindle  the  air.  I  don't  know  why, 
when  I  get  here,  my  tongue  should  run  as  it  does,  or 
why  you  should  sit  listening  there,  with  that  ingenuous 
air.  What  are  we  doing  it  for,  —  do  you  know  ?  And 
why  did  you  tie  that  pictorial  handkerchief  around 
your  head  ?  " 

"  Why  !  "  said  Rachel  smiling  as  one  whose  only 
thought  was  entertainment,  "  there  is  nothing  you  like 
BO  well  as  talking,  —  don't  I  listen  to  suit  you." 

"  I  have  taxed  you  a  great  deal  of  late,"  Halstead 
went  on,  in  the  same  light  accent,  "  and  you  have 
borne  it  with  great  patience,  —  commendable  patience. 
But  there  comes  a  time  in  every  acquaintance,  you 
know,  when  the  stream  of  expression  ceases,  and  the 
vacuity  that  is  behind  it  all  is  allowed  to  be  frankly 
apparent.  It  may  please  you  to  hear  that  no  man's 
ideas  hold  out  for  more  than  six  months,  and  that  after 
that  he  respects  the  peace  of  his  friend,  and  begins  to 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  63 

babble  his  say  over  again  to  strangers.  You  are  uot 
going  ?  " 

"  If  you  can  find  a  period,"  replied  the  girl,  who 
had  risen.  "  I  don't  want  to  seem  rude." 

"  It  is  now  some  weeks  since  I  met  you,"  said  Hal- 
stead,  retaining  his  seat,  and  taking  no  notice  of  the 
opportunity  afforded  for  his  verbal  activity  to  give 
place  to  physical  exercise,  "  and  the  more  you  let  me 
talk  to  you,  the  sooner  you  will  be  through  with  me. 
I  don't  know  that  you  will  gain  anything  by  econ 
omy.  Words,  you  know  with  me,  are  what  bung-holes 
are  to  wine  barrels,  and  when  they  have  served  their 
momentary  purpose,  the  barrel  is  empty.  Each  time 
it  is  refilled  it  is  with  a  new  vintage.  I  hope  you 
don't  think  that  they  have  meaning  !  —  that  they  are 
part  and  parcel  of  the  permanent  substance  of  the 
man.  I  have  no  permanent  substance,  Miss  Rachel 
Desborough  Guerrin,  companion  of  fire-flies,  mother  of 
marigolds,  and  keeper  of  the  dead !  I  talk  seriously 
when  I  am  lightest ;  and  lightly  when  I  am  most  seri 
ous,  —  idly  at  all  times." 

"You  need  not  tell  me  that.  You  must* not  be 
afraid  that  I  will  find  undue  meaning  in  you." 

"  Now  I  am  afraid,"  he  said. 

"  Sir,"  said  Rachel,  "  you  are  spoiling  my  honey 
suckle." 

"  Once,"  Halstead  went  on,  "  I  knew  a  woman  who 
had  eyes  like  you,  and  who  peered  about  her  as  you  do, 
as  if  she  would  find  some  deeper  meaning  than  lay 
upon  the  surface.  She  looked  at  me  like  that,  —  like 


04  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

you,  but  with  eyes  less  innocent.  She  was  what  you 
want  to  be,  and  can't  (I  assure  you  that  you  can't,  — 
it  isn't  in  you),  —  and  what  little  meaning  there  was 
in  me,  she  found  and  took  away  with  her.  The  only 
needle  in  the  hay-stack,  she  has  sticking  in  her  bosom. 
You  are  going  then?  —  don't  go.  See  what  a  night 
this  is.  I  hear  a  hawk." 

"  I  must.     It  is  getting  late." 

"You  think  me  very  light,"  he  conjectured  with 
sudden  compunction. 

"  So  light,"  she  agreed,  after  a  pause  which  sought 
in  vain  for  contradiction,  "  that  the  shadows  falling 
now  must  seem  heavy  to  you,"  —  and  for  a  moment 
she  seemed  to  see  through  him  into  the  air,  scarcely 
less  thin  beyond. 

"  Come,  I  like  that !  " 

"  It  is  time  we  were  out  of  them." 

"  Would  you  leave  me  here,  —  your  guest  ?  How 
swift  the  river  is  !  " 

"  We  should  not  have  come,  perhaps,"  she  said,  a 
little  doubtfully, 

"  Not  timid,  Juliet,  in  this  familiar  old  garden  ? 
Your  father's  garden !  Your  mother  showed  me  the 
other  day  a  chair,  grown  fast  high  up  in  an  apple-tree, 
which  she  said  was  near  the  ground  when  you  used 
to  sit  in  it.  I  should  say  you  knew  every  twig,  and 
every  goblin  here,  —  except  me.  Am  I  the  goblin 
that  sends  you  to  the  house  ?  If  I  were  a  bouncer 
now,  like  Dayton,  you  might  go." 

"  If  you  were  Mr.  Dayton  I  would  stay.  It  is  n't 
really  late.  I  don't  care  for  that." 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  65 

"  What !  have  you  been  making  up  with  Dayton  ? 
That  can't  be." 

"  Pie  does  n't  talk  to  hear  himself,  you  know." 

"  If  anything  could  make  him  talk,  it  would  be  you. 
He  once  grew  eloquent  about  you.  But  he  is  dumb, 
he  is  dumb.  Dayton  is  a  capital  fellow.  All  the  se 
crets  of  his  reticent  heart  doubtless  do  him  honor.  All 
hi»  intentions  do  him  honor  too.  He  is  very  clear 
about  his  intentions.  Taking  him  through  and  through, 
he  is  the  most  respectable  man  I  ever  knew." 

"  All  your  friends  know  that,"  said  Rachel. 

"  But  he  would  never  be  out  here,"  Halstead  re 
sumed.  "  He  shuts  himself  up  and  preserves  his  bal 
ance.  This  is  a  bewildering  place.  Please  sit  down 
again.  I  have  no  peace  of  mind  while  you  stand  like 
that.  I  want  to  tell  you  that  I  am  going  to  Boston 
to-morrow." 

"What?" 

"  I  am  going  to  Boston  to-morrow." 

"  To  stay  ?  "  asked  the  girl,  sitting  down. 

"  For  a  time.  Tell  me,  in  politeness,  you  are  sorry 
I  am  going  and  will  be  glad  when  I  return." 

"  Must  you  go?  " 

"  I  am  a  restless  fellow." 

"  Yes,  I  know." 

"  Besides  I  am  sent.  You  won't  say  it  then  ?  You 
are  not  like  me.  You  are  close-mouthed.  You  are  in 
different." 

"  I  may  be  different,"  she  answered.  "  I  am  not  in 
different." 

5 


66  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  leave,"  said  Halstead. 

"  I  wonder  if  that  is  true,"  said  Rachel. 

"  You  are  always  wondering  if  what  I  say  is  true  ; 
not  offensively,  but  as  if  you  were  groping  after  a 
standard  more  accurate  than  mine.  Well,  what  do  you 
conclude?  " 

"  All  I  ever  knew  or  thought  was  true  has  turned  to 
wonder  since  you  came,"  said  Rachel  lightly,  smoothing 
with  both  hands  her  ruffled  hair.  "  When  I  quit  won" 
dering  I  will  have  a  new  set  of  thoughts.  The  wind  is 
stirring." 

And  she  held  out  her  hands,  palms  upward,  to  in 
quire  for  the  rain. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  give  me  before  I  go  ?"  per 
sisted  the  young  man.  "  Some  souvenir  would  be  in 
order.  A  ribbon  or  a  hair-pin  is  neat.  We  are  having, 
you  know,  a  sort  of  flirtation,  and  no  flirtation  is  com 
plete  without  at  least  an  exchange  of  geranium  leaves. 
It  is  very  touching.  It  fills  to  repletion  the  worldly 
heart.  I  have  known  men  and  women  by  scores  so 
satisfied  with  a  sprig  of  geranium  that  they  never 
craved  anything  more.  If  you  had  such  a  thing  about 
you,  now  "  — 

"  Come,"  cried  Rachel.  "  It  is  beginning  to  rain.  I 
felt  a  drop  on  my  hand." 

"  Give  me  that?"  said  Halstead  with  genuine  thirst. 
But  Rachel  gathered  up  her  skirts  and  started  back 
along  the  walk. 

There  were  lights  moving  about  the  door-yard  as  she 
reached  it,  and  Dayton,  advancing  from  the  region  of 
the  stables,  held  a  lantern  aloft. 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  67 

"  Halloa !  "  cried  Halstead,  from  behind.  "  What 's 
op?" 

Dayton  stopped,  and  the  lantern  illumined  Rachel's 
face  with  the  silk  bandana  about  her  head.  She 
looked  exceeding  bright,  restless,  spirited. 

"  What  's  up  ?  "  repeated  Halstead. 

"  The  horses  got  out,"  answered  Dayton,  dropping 
the  light.  '"I  have  been  helping  to  turn  them  in. 
They  were  tearing  up  the  yard." 

"  I  thought  at  first,"  said  Nathan,  "  that  you  were 
trying  the  Diogenes  game..'' 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  the  house  ?  "  asked  Rachel, 
looking  up  at  the  dark  front.  "  No  lamps  lighted." 

"  The  ladies  were  called  away.  Did  n't  Halstead 
tell  you  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Somebody  lay  sick  with  a  fever.  Perhaps  Simon 
Peter's  wife's  mother." 

"  That  poor  woman  was  buried  ages  ago,"  Rachel 
observed. 

"  Ah,  yes,  I  remember,"  he  rejoined.  "  I  heard  the 
bells." 

But  finely  as  he  felt  they  were  getting  on,  Halstead 
almost  wished  that  Rachel  would  receive  his  remarks 
a  little  less  as  they  were  meant ;  that  she  would  answer 
iu  a  way  a  little  less  light  and  bright ;  that  she  would 
be  a  little  less  unconscious ;  and  a  little  less  unembar 
rassed,  a&  he  strolled  with  her  about  the  garden  in  the 
early  evening.  She  did  not  seem  to  mind  his  presence 
quite  as  it  was  to  be  presumed  she  would. 


VI. 

A  DAT  or  two  after  Halstead's  departure,  Dayton 
received  a  letter  from  him,  in  which,  after  the  prelimi 
nary  business  matters,  he  said  :  — 

"  My  sister,  Mrs.  Sterling,  with  her  family  and  some 
of  her  friends,  are  looking  about  during  this  bumble-bee 
weather  for  a  retreat  among  the  mountains,  and  hav 
ing  heard  me  in  unguarded  moments  upon  the  subject 
of  the  Pocumtuck  and  the  scenery  adjacent,  think  they 
might  be  pleased  in  Beaudeck.  My  dear  friend,  for 
give  and  help  me ;  together  we  may  avert  the  inva 
sion. 

"  They  say,  I  believe,  that  the  change  would  do 
them  good,  —  they  all  need  it.  Young  women,  you 
know,  can  evolve  from  the  mystery  they  miscall  their 
health  some  physical  excuse  for  any  trip  whatever,  and 
on  the  shortest  possible  notice.  Their  constitutions 
are  trained  to  it ;  their  well-being  is  and  must  be 
synonymous  with  their  pleasure.  There  is  no  doubt 
about  it ;  go  they  must ;  but,  hist !  where  ?  By  all 
means,  I  think,  to  some  noxious,  sulphurous  spring  ; 
to  some  beach  washed  by  the  kindly  Atlantic  for  fash 
ionable  uses ;  to  some  staring,  sylvan  resort  where  on 
wide,  white  verandas  they  can  enjoy  their  flounces, 
their  peopled  solitude,  and  a  blessed  immunity  from 
active  thought.  Beaudeck  you  know  is  a  trifle  aus- 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  69 

tere.  Her  streams  may  be  limpid,  her  skies  cerulean, 
but  she  has  a  serious  and  searching  air,  and  she  throws 
one  back  upon  one's  self  in  a  way  that  would  not  be 
tolerated  in  a  watering-place. 

"  I  have  told  them  there  was  nc  hotel  there ;  but 
with  perverse  amiability  they  abominate  hotels,  and 
beg  me  to  ask  you  to  find  quarters  for  them  at  some 
country  house.  I  have  told  them,  too,  that  they  would 
find  no  comforts  and  no  amusements,  but  only  to  learn 
that  they  have  always  been  as  averse  to  comfort  and 
amusement  as  to  hotels.  I  have  even  told  them  that 
since  the  days  of  King  Philip's  War,  the  country  has 
never  been  free  from  brandishing  tomahawks,  and  that 
the  once  frenzied  people  still  put  on  their  hats  with  a 
sense  of  gratitude  for  crowns  to  cover.  It  was  no  go. 
They  are  solidly  in  favor  of  the  Indian,  with  all  his 
traditionary  privileges. 

<k  I  give  it  up.  It  is  your  turn  now.  There  will  be 
six  or  seven  in  the  party,  children,  nurses,  and  all,  and 
as  they  want  to  return  with  me,  there  is  no  time  to 
lose.  Genial  friends,  of  course,  in  Boston,  —  genial 
friends  anywhere ;  but  what  would  they  do  off  there 
on  the  border,  and  how  could  we  entertain  them,  till 
frost  relieved  us  ?  Invention  would  fail.  It  is  a  tri 
fling  matter,  but  I  am  not  in  the  mood.  I  am  selfish. 
I  am  narrow,  —  narrow  as  the  valley  up  yonder,  — 
and  I  have  no  lodgings  to  let. 

"  My  cousin  Margaret  Duncan  is  one  of  them,  and 
by  her  practical  side  one  could  preserve  an  undis 
turbed  }  arallel  for  any  number  of  summers ;  but  Miss 


70  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

Mason  is  the  other,  —  you  remember  Miss  Mason 
Then  Jim  Meade  and  Mr.  Sterling  would,  of  course, 
as  in  duty  bound,  occasionally  appear. 

"As  your  talents  point  in  every  direction  rather 
than  toward  finesse,  let  me  suggest  that  you  write  im 
mediately  and  say  how  it  is,  —  no  possible  accommoda 
tions,  and  so  on.  I  would  be  obliged  to  you,  and  you 
may,  beside,  give  thanks  to  yourself." 

"When  Dayton  read  this  he  straightened  himself  with 
instant  decision,  and  in  that  decision  he  coincided  with 
his  friend.  With  women,  Jared  Dayton  was  exceed 
ingly  reluctant,  and  when  their  society  was  proposed 
to  him,  he  was  apt  to  raise  an  averting  hand  and  shake 
his  head.  During  the  time  Halstead  had  known  him, 
he  had  never  known  him  extend  to  them  other  than 
common  civilities  ;  but  what  lay  back  of  that  time  he 
could  not  tell,  and  whether  the  restrictions  that  bound 
him,  were  a  matter  of  temperament,  or  the  result  of 
dear  experience,  he  could  not  even  guess.  Dayton 
rarely  talked  of  women.  lie  did  not,  in  truth,  even 
cultivate  thoughts  of  them.  When  by  chance  he  was 
thrown  in  their  society,  he  appeared  sufficiently  well 
not  to  come  under  the  ban  of  even  the  most  fastidious, 
but  he  did  not  seek  occasion  to  be  alone  with  any  one 
of  them.  He  was  slow  ;  recently  he  had  pronounced 
himself  slow  to  excess,  —  unnecessarily  slow,  —  in 
fernally  slow.  He  had  the  manner  of  a  man  chiefly 
intent  upon  minding  his  own  business.  He  was  as 
earnest  as  if  nature  forbade  him  to  look  lightly  upon 
this  grinding  world,  and  as  much  at  his  ease  as  if  he 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  71 

expected  to  live  in  it  always,  and  was  making  the  best 
of  it.  lie  never  rebelled.  He  never  exulted.  Appar 
ently  he  had  concluded  that  insensibility  was  the  wiser 
role.  When  a  mere  boy,  the  necessity  of  making 
money  had  forced  itself  upon  him  with  absoluteness, 
and  he  had  been  endeavoring  to  make  money  ever 
since,  with  vague  and  passionate  intentions  regarding 
the  time  subsequent  to  fortune.  But  he  was  thirty-six, 
and  his  fortune  was  not  yet  made.  He  had  no  time 
for  deviation.  His  eyes  were  fixed.  His  hand  was 
on  the  plow.  He  loved  his  profession  silently,  fer 
vently.  He  was  one-sided,  —  developed  only  in  the 
direction  of  what  was  least  sentimental  and  emotional. 
In  fact  whatever  touched  his  emotions  seemed  to  have 
ruinous  designs  upon  his  happiness,  and  he  had  a  very 
clear  notion,  born  of  a  season  in  the  past,  and  of  cer 
tain  well-defined  tendencies  of  his  closeted  being,  that 
that  way  storms  lay. 

Occasionally  he  envied  young  Halstead  those  traits 
which  signalized  him :  his  ability  to  pursue  to  advan 
tage  several  interests  at  once ;  his  social  adroitness  ; 
the  dexterity  with  which  he  created  the  opportunities 
he  wanted ;  and  that  peculiar  temper,  constitution,  or 
whatever  it  was,  that  commanded  such  ready  and  warm 
response.  He  envied  him  now  the  facility  of  his  let 
ter,  and  tried  to  imagine  himself  answering  it  with 
equal  ease,  and  to  the  desired  effect.  Either  way,  to 
come  or  not  to  come,  the  idea  of  his  personal  interpo 
sition,  irritated  him.  Finally  he  read  it  again  slowly, 
and  with  greater  care.  "  Mason  ?  Mason  ?  "  he  said. 
'  That  was  the  name." 


72  AN    EARNEST    TKIFLER. 

Then  he  made  a  brief  statement  of  the  contents  of 
the  note,  and  asked,  experimentally,  if  there  was  any 
place  in  the  vicinity  where  they  took  summer  board 
ers. 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Hannah  with  great  promptness,  — 
such  promptness  as  was  calculated  to  remove  indecis 
ion  ;  "  year  before  last  a  family  stayed  three  months  or 
more  at  Mrs.  Anderson's.  That  is  the  nearest  place, 
—  a  mile,  or  thereby,  np  the  north  road.  She  is  a 
good  woman,  and  she  has  a  large  house.  I  think  she 
would  like  the  help.  It  would  be  a  kindness.  She 
is  a  widow.  "We  know  her  through  the  church.  Her 
husband  died  of  the  consumption,  —  they  all  do.  She 
has  two  boys  who  will  have  it  too.  To  live  among 
those  who  have  consumption  makes  people  strange 
and  wistful.  If  your  friends  don't  care  where  they 
go,  it  would  be  well  for  them  to  go  there.  It  would 
be  doing  good.  The  rich  and  poor  should  fit  together. 
You  might  drive  up  there  now ;  the  carryall  is  in 
front.  Perhaps  Rachel  will  take  you.  Rachel !  " 

"  Certainly,"  said  Rachel,  wondering  how  she  would 
get  through  a  drive  alone  with  the  august  engineer, 
but  glad  to  be  of  service  to  one  who  asked  so  few 
favors  of  his  fellow-men. 

Dayton  hesitated,  unprepaied  to  have  his  nebulous 
plan  thus  framed  and  ready  for  instant  execution. 
Rachel  stood  before  him  with  her  hat.  He  bowed, 
expressed  his  thanks ;  and  they  started  oflf  together. 

"  Do  you  want  these  people  to  come  ?  "  he  asked,  as 
they  settled  back  in  their  places  on  the  front  seat  oi 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  73 

the  carryall,  u  because  if  you  don't,  we  won't  have  them, 
that  is  all.  It  would  be  easy.  Just  say  the  word.  I 
must  tell  you  that  Halstead  does  not  care  about  it. 
He  said  I  was  to  tell  them  there  was  no  room." 

"  But  there  is  room,"  said  Rachel ;  "  we  won't  do 
that." 

"  There  is  no  room  if  you  don't  want  them.  It  ia 
your  territory." 

"  I  would  be  ashamed  not  to  want  them,"  she  an 
swered.  "  Don't  you  want  them  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  on  the  whole  I  want  them." 

"  You  know  them,  then  ?  " 

"  Slightly." 

«  And  like  them  ?  " 

"  Mrs.  Sterling,"  he  said,  "  is  bright.  Her  husband 
and  brother  are  both  my  friends.  Her  circle  is  a 
pleasant  one  to  live  in,  if  one  has  plenty  of  time." 

"  And  the  others  ?  " 

"  Miss  Mason  I  have  only  seen  once  or  twice." 

"  Where  did  you  see  her  ?  " 

"  At  Mrs.  Sterling's." 

"  Is  she  pretty  ?  " 

"  She  is  tall  and  pale  ;  taller  than  you,  and  very 
much  paler.  She  wears  odd  jewelry  and  stuffs  from 
India." 

"  She  is  stylish  then." 

«  Probably." 

"  But  that  is  not  saying  that  she  is  pretty." 

"  I  have  heard  her  called  striking." 

"  Then  she  is  more  than  pretty." 


74  AN    EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  More,  —  and  less.  She  has  fine  manners.  She 
holds  her  head  high." 

"  Young,  is  she  ?  "  said  Rachel,  bending  down  and 
brushing  something  from  her  dress. 

"  She  may  be  twenty -four  or  five,  —  perhaps  twenty- 
four  or  five  hundred." 

"  That  is  n't  very  close  guessing.  Which  does  she 
seem  to  be  ?  " 

"  Her  lace  is  young." 

"  She  can't  very  well  be  older  than  her  face." 

"  Oh  yes,  she  can.  Her  smile  belongs  to  a  woman 
of  the  Roman  Empire  in  its  decline.  It  is  very  strange 
and  melancholy.  It  distorts  her  features." 

"  Perhaps  her  health  is  poor.  I  have  seen  women 
look  like  that  when  they  had  poor  health." 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Dayton ;  "  I  never  heard  it  men 
tioned." 

"  Does  she  seem  well  ?  " 

"  She  goes  a  great  deal." 

"  Goes  where  ?  " 

"  To  the  opera,  to  the  shops,  to  dinners,  to  Saratoga. 
Where  is  it  that  young  ladies  go  ?  " 

"  Why  does  she  want  to  come  here  ?  " 

"  Now,  I  can't  answer.  Her  motives  are  deeper 
than  I  can  get." 

"  Who  called  her  striking?  " 

"  Halstead.  She  is  a  friend  of  his.  She  is  rich. 
She  is  alone,  —  as  much  alone  as  one  who  is  rich  can 
conveniently  be.  She  has  a  great  deal  at  her  com 
mand." 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  1C 

"  And  yet  you  say  he  does  not  care  to  have  them 
come.  Perhaps  she  is  lacking  somewhere  else.  She 
may  not  be  agreeable.  She  may  be  tiresome.  Per 
haps  she  is  only  striking  in  her  looks." 

And  she  looked  at  him  with  keener  inquiry  in  her 
face  than  lay  in  her  sentences.  Dayton  did  not  seem 
to  relish  it. 

"  And  do  you  too,"  he  asked  with  an  assumption  of 
lightness,  "lay  such  stress  on  the  agreeable,  the  versa 
tile,  the  striking?  Is  there  no  homely  quality  that 
recommends  itself  to  you  ?  What  is  your  opinion  of 
fidelity  ?  How  would  single-mindedness  strike  you  ?  " 

"  Do  you  suppose,"  said  Rachel,  "  that  she  is  like 
that  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Dayton  with  sudden  cool 
ness.  "  I  don't  suppose  anything  about  it.  We  will 
give  her  the  benefit  of  the  doubt." 

Rachel  neither  assented  nor  dissented,  and  presently 
Dayton  asked  her  if  she  read  much,  with  an  abrupt 
withdrawing  from  intimate  communication,  and  a  safe 
return  to  exoteric  topics,  which  frequently  marked  his 
conversation.  She  thought  he  asked  it  as  friends  of 
her  father's  had  been  wont  to  ask  her  how  old  she  was, 
or  if  she  went  to  school ;  and  recalled  what  Halstead 
had  once  said  about  the  cockatoos  and  coal  mines. 

When  however  they  had  reached  the  upper  valley 
and  had  come  within  sight  of  Mrs.  Anderson's  house, 
Dayton  again  reverted  to  the  strangers. 

"  Suppose,"  he  said,  "  we  drive  on  past.  We  need  n't 
trouble  ourselves.  I  assure  you  they  will  turn  the 


76  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

valley  upside  down.  Every  day  there  will  be  a  picnic. 
They  have  no  pity.  They  devise  the  most  atrocious 
pleasures,  from  which  there  is  no  escape.  They  reach 
out  their  slim  hands  and  draw  whoever  they  want  into 
their  schemes.  I  feel  as  if  1  were  assisting  in  a  plot, 
and  I  am  clumsy  at  plots.  Are  you  quite  sure  that 
you  want  them  ?  —  I  leave  it  to  you.  Imagine  you 
see  them  driving  along  the  highway  every  tune  you 
look  up.  Imagine  them  under  your  elms.  They  leave 
the  gates  open.  They  stir  up  breezes.  They  might 
stir  up  a  breeze  which  would  take  your  breath  away ! 
"We  can  turn  back  yet ;  Mrs.  Anderson  has  no  previs 
ion  of  our  errand.  We  can  take  our  drive  and  go 
home.  I  should  consider  the  drive  in  itself  a  sufficient 
end  and  aim.  You  still  have  the  opportunity  to  back 
out." 

"  I  don't  want  to  back  out,"  said  Rachel.  "  The 
more  you  say  the  more  I  want  them  to  come." 

"  Miss  Guerrin,"  cried  Dayton,  "  you  are  a  brave 
girl.  I  am  going  to  give  you  a  laurel  blossom."  And 
getting  out  of  the  carriage  he  ascended  the  steep,  side 
of  the  mountain  that  rose  above  them  and  brought 
back  a  belated  sprig  of  that  honorable  flower. 

"And  you  feel  no  hesitation,"  he  asked  as  he 
handed  it  to  her ;  "  you  want  them  all,  —  the  whole 
powerful  posse  comitatus  ?  " 

"  All/'  she  answered,  wondering  at  his  change  of 
manner. 

"  We  will  transport  the  town,"  he  exclaimed.  '  1 
<vill  build  them  an  hotel  myself." 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  77 

"  Of  course,"  she  said  thoughtfully,  "  it  is  pleasant 
to  have  strangers  here." 

"  Then  I  am  happy  in  being  one,"  he  answered. 
"  How  long  may  one  hope  to  preserve  that  pleasant 
but  transitory  relation  ?  What  a  pity  that  one  must 
so  soon  degenerate  into  a  friend,  even  though  one  fall 
no  further  !  " 

"  I  should  say,"  said  Rachel,  doubtful  of  a  F pecu 
lation  so  intrusive,  "  that  no  one  could  preserve  it 
longer  than  you." 

"  But  since  you  have  declared  it  pleasant,"  said  he, 
"  I  should  still  hesitate  to  advance.  That  is  offering 
a  premium  on  distance." 

And  that  night  Dayton  wrote  to  Halstead  saying : 
"  I  can't  be  of  any  use  to  you  in  this  matter.  I  have 
inquired  about  here  in  the  interest  of  your  friends  with 
effect  contrary  to  your  suggestion.  They  can  find 
very  tolerable  accommodations  at  a  large  and  finely 
located  house  a  mile  or  more  from  the  village,  toward 
Spaz.  If  that  will  do  why  not  have  them  come  ?  " 

Even  after  getting  this  off  his  mind  he  sat  up  quite 
late.  He  was  not  satisfied.  Either  way  matters  were 
not  going  to  suit  him.  There  was  an  irritation  in  the 
wind.  His  profession  did  not  absorb  him  with  its  old 
kindness  and  closeness,  and  he  wished  he  had  not  med 
dled  with  what  did  not  concern  him. 


VII. 

THE  venerable  stage  that  went  to  the  train  on  an 
evening  shortly  following  was  crowded  for  the  first 
time  in  years,  —  it  being,  like  everything  else  in  the 
village,  many  sizes  too  large  for  its  ordinary  uses. 
It  lumbered  slowly  across  the  bridge  and  along  the 
shaded  road,  while  from  its  windows  peered  the  ani 
mated  heads  of  blue-veiled  strangers  ;  their  long  kid 
gloves  slipped  in  the  faded  hand-rests,  their  figures 
swaying  with  the  motion,  their  attention  divided  be 
tween  the  scenery  and  the  vivacious  discussions  con 
ducted  by  young  Halstead  within.  They  expressed 
themselves  pleased  with  everything,  —  the  hills,  the 
river,  the  cattle  in  the  fields,  the  very  stones  by  the 
roadside,  —  and  declared  they  would  forego  the  sea 
shore  and  stay  there  all  summer.  They  even  hummed 
an  air  from  "  Mignon  "  illustrative  of  their  mood.  As 
the  sole  occupants  of  this  ancient  vehicle  (a  relic  of 
past  prosperity,  and  a  decayed  stage  route)  they  al 
ready  felt  the  confidence  of  possession,  the  freedom  of 
adventure,  the  ease  of  accustomed  travelers,  and  the 
spirit  of  powerful  patrons  who,  by  their  late  example, 
would  lift  a  lapsed  village  a  century  forward.  In  the 
midst  of  this  talking  and  gazing  and  approving  and 
rolling  at  ease,  the  coach  suddenly  turned  through  an 
arched  gateway,  stopped  a  moment  before  a  structura 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  79 

made  up  of  steps,  of  columns,  of  wings,  and  a  great 
deal  of  faded  gray  paint ;  then  rolled  on  again,  leaving 
Dayton  upon  the  steps  bowing  his  adieux  to  its  occu 
pants,  while  Halstead  with  his  hat  in  his  hand  made 
a  low  salute  to  a  bare-headed,  graceful  girl  upou  tho 
piazza. 

"  Why,  where  are  we  ?  "  asked  Mrs.  Sterling,  look« 
ing  quickly  back  through  the  elms. 

"  This  is  where  we  live,"  answered  Halstead.  "  The 
home  of  the  unique,  the  antique  Desboroiighs." 

"  I  thought  at  first  it  was  some  asylum,"  observed 
Miss  Duncan. 

"  So  it  is,  —  for  disabled  engineers,"  said  Halstead. 

"  Disabled  !  "  exclaimed  Miss  Mason. 

"  For  those  with  a  halt  in  their  resolution,"  replied 
Nathan. 

"  And  was  that  Miss  Guerrin  ?  "  Mrs.  Sterling  in 
quired. 

"  The  very  same,  dear  sister." 

"  Why  did  n't  you  tell  us  ."  " 

"  Tell  you  what  ?  " 

"  About  her.  Who  would  have  expected  to  see  her 
like  that  ?  " 

Nathan  laughed,  as  if  his  own  judgment  had  been 
indirectly  confirmed  by  a  competent  critic.  "  You 
would  not  have  believed  me  if  I  had,"  he  said.  "  You 
\vould  have  thought  that  pastoral  associations  had 
got  the  better  of  me.  I  scarcely  believe  in  her  myself 
yet." 

"It  isn't  necessary  that  you  should,"  observed  his 
ster. 


80  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  I  expect  her  to  appear  some  morning  prim,  angular, 
and  crude,"  the  young  man  went  on. 

"  I  hope  she  may,  for  her  own  sake,"  Mrs.  Sterling 
declared,  —  "  that  is,  if  you  flutter  about  her  much." 

"  Is  she  an  intelligent  person  ? "  inquired  Miss 
Duncan,  who  invariably  asked  after  a  person's  intelli 
gence. 

"  You  must  be  the  judge,"  said  Halstead  deferen 
tially. 

"  Then  your  opinion  must  be  a  good  one,"  com 
mented  the  lady.  "  Nobody  ever  withholds  one  that 
is  averse." 

"  She  shall  come  to  call  upon  you,"  Nathan  asserted. 

There  was  a  little  pause,  and  then  Mrs.  Sterling  took 
up  the  conversation. 

"  It  is  astonishing  to  me  about  these  village  girls," 
she  said.  "  I  have  noticed  it  before.  They  live  nar 
row  little  lives,  and  yet,  when  occasion  permits,  they 
step  gracefully  out,  self-possessed,  as  good  as  the  best, 
and  not  even  behind  in  the  fashions.  I  confess  I 
don't  understand  it.  I  should  think  it  would  take 
them  years  to  mortify  themselves  into  good  manners. 
I  keep  expecting  them  to  do  something  queer.  I  con 
fess  I  have  a  prejudice  against  anything  queer.  It 
makes  me  squirm.  That  is,  anything  queer  in  the  way 
of  manners.  I  stayed  once  at  a  place  in  the  White 
Mountains  where  the  daughters  of  the  house  taught 
school  in  winter,  and  waited  on  the  boarders  in  sum 
mer.  One  of  them  was  told  to  pass  the  rolls,  and  with 
the  utmost  gravity  put  one  down  beside  my  plate  as  if 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  81 

it  bad  been  a  piece  of  chalk.  That  is  the  sort  of  thing 
[  mean.  You  can't  always  tell  what  to  expect." 

"  My  dear  sister,"  cried  Ualstead  with  emphasis,  "  it 
is  you,  this  time,  who  are  a  trifle  off.  For  mercy's 
Bake,  —  not  in  this  connection  !  " 

"  Oh,  no,  not  in  this  connection,  of  course,"  assented 
Mrs.  Sterling,  —  "  nothing  so  bad  as  that !  But  once 
too  I  made  calls  with  a  popular  young  belle  from  a 
country  town,  and  she  gave  our  cards  to  the  lady  her 
self  whom  we  went  to  call  upon.  You  can't  tell.  In 
everything  else  she  was  unexceptionable." 

"  My  dear  sister,"  protested  Halstead  again,  "  spare 
us ! " 

"  Of  course  I  ought  not  to  feel  so.  I  confess  it  is 
prejudice  on  my  part.  I  mean  to  overcome  it.  I  have 
always  said  I  would  overcome  it.  Nobody  likes  a 
fresh  young  girl  better  than  I  do.  Miss  Guerrin  may 
have  the  best  of  manners ;  better  than  ours  even. 
She  may  never  do  anything  out  of  the  way,  —  you 
seem  to  think  not.  I  don't  pretend  to  say ;  but  you 
must  admit  she  has  no  great  advantages  for  observa 
tion." 

"  She  shall  come  to  call  upon  you,"  repeated  the 
young  man. 

"  Of  course,  I  will  be  glad  to  have  her.  You  are 
peculiarly  situated.  I  shall  treat  her  as  I  would  a 
Knickerbocker." 

"  Theoretically,  I  assure  you  they  would  make  no 
concessions  to  the  Knickerbockers." 

6 


82  AX    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  So  bad  as  that !  "  exclaimed  Miss  Ma&on,  looking 
over  the  top  of  her  fan,  with  her  pale  blue  eyes. 

"  You  are  missing  something,  by  the  way,"  said 
Halstead.  "You  should  be  looking  out.  We  are 
now  in  the  heart  of  Beaudeck.  We  are  about  to 
leave  the  mail-bags  at  the  grocery.  These  small  boys 
under  our  wheels  represent  the  clergy  and  the  foreign 
element,  but  for  whom  there  would  be  no  shinney  in 
the  streets  and  no  accidents  in  the  mill-dam.  What  do 
you  think  of  the  place  ?  " 

After  throwing  off  the  mail-bags,  in  whose  capacious 
pockets  a  few  lonely  letters  rattled,  the  coach  swept 
grandly  around,  and  doubling  upon  its  course  for  a 
short  distance  began  its  lumbering  ascent  through  the 
g-orge  to  the  upper  valley.  The  western  sunlight 
struck  through  the  overhanging  trees,  birds  rose  in  the 
air,  and  the  brook,  whose  ravages  had  made  this  exit 
practicable,  tumbled  and  roared  and  dashed  itself  into 
spray  against  the  rocks.  It  seemed  as  if  a  road  so  in 
nocent  must  lead  to  a  retreat  as  peaceful. 

But  that  evening  when  the  frogs  were  in  vocifer 
ous  chorus,  and  the  crickets  were  sawing  their  tuneful 
legs,  when  Halstead  had  taken  his  departure,  and  the 
ladies  had  gone  up  to  their  square,  bare  rooms,  Louise 
Mason  dropped  down  upon  a  stool  with  her  hands 
clasped  before  her,  and  with  a  gloomy  sort  of  apathy 
watched  the  motions  of  the  other  ladies  as  they  un 
packed  their  trunks,  and  spread  their  voluminous 
dresses  upon  the  bed. 

''  Come,  Louise,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling,  "  why  ar'n't 
you  unpacking  ?  " 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  83 

"It  seems  too  ridiculous,"  said  Louise,  "all  that  stuff 
up  here.  Whatever  possessed  us  .to  hunt  up  such  an 
owl's  nest  as  this  to  summer  in  ?  "  —  and  rising  she 
began  to  walk  about,  with  an  irritated  air  and  a  clouded 
brow. 

"  You  will  like  it  better  by  to-morrow,  —  by  day 
light,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling,  with  cheerful  reassurance. 

"  I  shall  go  back,"  cried  Louise.  "  What  I  don't 
like  to-day  suits  me  still  less  to-morrow." 

"  You  are  vexed  about  something,  or  about  nothing," 
pursued  the  other.  "  What  has  come  over  you  ?  I 
think  it  is  delightful.  You  will  think  so  too,  shortly. 
Come,  unpack." 

"  My  dear  Helen,"  said  Miss  Mason,  "  you  are  too 
amiable.  You  think  everything  delightful.  You  said 
the  same  thing  about  our  landlady,  and  about  the 
cream  on  our  strawberries.  You  keep  yourself  always 
ready  to  be  tickled  by  delight.  I  believe  if  a  pin 
scratched  you,  you  would  bleed  delight.  If  you  have 
any  other  fee-ing  I  don't  know  where  you  hide  it 
You  are  like  your  brother." 

"  Then  you  mean  to  compliment  me  !  I  am  sure 
you  approve  my  brother." 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  are  very  sure.  You  are  all  too  sure. 
I  tell  you  I  shall  go  back." 

"  We  have  engaged  board  here  for  most  of  the  sea- 
sou,  you  know,"  said  Margaret  Duncan. 

"  We  can  pay  for  it  and  leave  it,  I  suppose." 

"  You  were  as  anxious  to  come  as  any  of  us,"  sug 
gasted  Mrs  Sterling.  "  Who  was  it  that  first  advo 
cuted  Beaudeck  ?  " 


84  AN    EARNEST    IRIFLER. 

"  I  was  that  miserable  being,"  assented  the  girl. 
"  But  this  is  n't  Beaudeck.  This  is  the  heart  of  no 
where.  We  are  farther  from  Beaudeck  now  than  we 
were  in  Boston.  We  should  have  brought  our  horses." 

"  I  will  take  out  your  dresses  for  you  if  you  say 
BO,"  offered  Margaret.  "  They  are  laid  in  here  like 
sardines  ;  who  packed  them  ?  " 

"  Mother.     She  always  packs." 

"  What  did  you  do  before  you  had  a  mother  ?  "  said 
Helen  Sterling,  looking  up  from  the  drawer  she  was 
arranging. 

"I  had  to  wait  on  myself,"  answered  Louise,  turning 
back  with  a  short  laugh.  "  My  poor  little  mother  ! 
She  did  n't  want  me  to  try  the  country.  '  Louise,' 
she  said,  '  you  will  be  bitten  by  gnats.'  She  thinks  it 
most  terrible  to  be  bitten  by  gnats." 

"  What  lovely  clothes !  "  said  Mrs.  Sterling,  as 
Margaret  set  aside  a  trunk  tray.  "  When  you  have 
nothing  else  to  do,  Louise,  you  can  try  new  effects  in 
costume." 

"  I  imagine  that  will  be  most  of  the  time.  What 
are  we  to  do  anyway  ?  " 

"Do?  All  sorts  of  things.  Nathan  will  tell  us. 
tie  knows  all  that  is  worth  doing  in  any  locality." 

"  He  has  his  hands  full  already,"  answered  the  girl. 
Anybody  can  see  that." 

;  It  is  for  you  to  empty  them  then." 

••  I  am  afraid  we  have  made  a  mistake,"  said  Louise, 
going  to  the  window  again,  and  looking  off  over  the 
swaying  tree-tops.  "  I  am  afraid  we  have  made  a  mis 
take.  Oh,  these  owls  1 " 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  85 

Miss  Mason  was  twenty-six  years  old.  For  several 
of  these  years  she  had  known  Nathan  Halstead,  during 
which  time  her  smiles  had  grown  old  though  her  face 
was  still  young.  He  could  be  very  refreshing  when 
he  chose,  and  he  had  entered  her  wealthy,  inert,  and 
stranded  existence,  like  a  salt  breeze  blowing  through 
a  close  drawing-room.  The  burden  of  inanity  with 
which  she  was  weighted  had  sensibly  lightened  under 
his  sallies,  and  she  had  felt  great  shocks  of  animation 
when  he  paid  her  audacious  compliments  in  the  con 
servatory  after  supper.  They  were  the  only  shocks 
she  had  ever  had,  and  they  in  some  way  had  seared 
her  smiles.  And  Halstead  had  greatly  admired  the 
style  of  her  exotic  dresses ;  her  assured  bearing ;  the 
lining  of  her  phaeton ;  perhaps  the  dividends  from 
her  investments ;  but  he  straightened  himself  and 
looked  attentive  when  it  was  suggested  that  she  should 
come  to  the  country.  Then  his  hands  stole  into  his 
pockets  and  he  strolled  away. 


vin. 

LET  it  not  be  supposed  that  in  the  minds  of  the  Des- 
oorough  sisters  all  was  untroubled  and  serene.  They 
were  too  conscientious  for  so  much  light  enjoyment 
as  was  going  on  within  their  serious  precincts,  and  in 
reality  were  sorely  puzzled  as  to  Rachel's  immediate 
future.  It  was  not  that  they  would  have  her  live  on 
as  they  had  done ;  it  was  not  that  they  would  have  her 
go  away ;  it  was  not  that  they  would  have  her  marry  ; 
all  these  courses  had  very  objectionable,  insufficient, 
and  profane  features.  Had  they  carefully  reared, 
tended,  watered,  and  brought  her  to  her  present  beauti 
ful  state  of  inflorescence,  only  to  find  that  nothing  was 
good  enough  for  her  the  rest  of  the  way  ?  To  their 
over-reflective  and  scrupulous  minds  it  seemed  so,  and 
while  trying  to  conceive  and  arrange  some  adequate 
future  for  her,  they  felt  with  alarm  that  her  future 
was  fast  stealing  upon  her,  and  that  she  might  even 
be  over  before  they  had  decided  upon  the  sort  of  supe 
rior  celebration  her  days  were  to  be.  And  not  only 
were  they  puzzled  about  the  mature  destiny  of  their 
rare  offspring,  but  there  were  also  inherent  qualities 
in  her  character  and  person  which  perplexed  them  still 
moie,  —  qualities  that  had  not  appeared  to  confuse 
their  own  straightforward  careers,  —  a  superfluity  of 
beauty,  a  disqualifying  imagination,  an  eagerness  for 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  87 

pleasure,  a  certain  independence  of  understanding,  and 
a  ready  assimilation  with  new  elements.  They  felt 
feeble  to  deal  with  her.  They  had  trained  her  in  child 
hood  with  great  nicety  ;  they  had  sent  her  to  school ; 
they  had  taken  her  to  Boston  ;  but  they  had  not 
meant  to  produce  quite  such  extreme  and  irrepressible 
results.  They  regretted  that  of  late  years,  which  in 
cluded  the  whole  of  Rachel's  life,  they  had  allowed 
their  outside  connections  to  become  so  few  and  slight, 
and  wished  that  she  might  have  companions  of  her 
own  age,  and  the  pleasures  due  her  young  woman 
hood  ;  yet  when  chance  brought  a  fluttering  and  ele 
gant  party  right  there  to  the  village,  their  foreboding 
maternal  hearts  found  in  it  as  much  cause  for  anxiety 
as  congratulation.  They  especially  shrank  when  they 
thought  of  Mr.  Young  Halstead,  as  Miss  Hannah 

o  o 

called  him  ;  but  no  sooner  would  their  fears  condemn 
him  than,  in  a  desire  to  do  him  justice,  they  would 
give  him  every  praise.  These  fears  were  not  wholly 
disguised. 

"  We  don't  like  it  that  he  should  be  so  constantly 
with  Rachel,"  said  Mrs.  Guerrin  to  her  husband. 
"  We  wish  you  would  speak  to  him." 

"  Speak  to  him !  And  what  should  I  tell  him  ?  " 
inqu'red  that  gentleman. 

"  Tell  him,  —  tell  him  "  —  and  there  she  stopped. 

"  Tt  will  be  time  enough  to  speak  to  him  when  we 
cau  think  of  something  to  say  to  him,"  said  Mr.  Guer 
rin. 

"  Tt  will  be  too  late  then." 


38  AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  Then  I  don't  see  what  we  are  to  do." 

"  We  thought  you  might  warn  him." 

"  We  mean  him  well  and  he  means  us  well.  You 
can't  warn  honest  people  against  honest  people  without 
slandering  somebody." 

"  But  is  he  honest  ? "  she  said,  trembling  with  the 
possible  guiltiness  of  her  suspicion. 

"  It  is  only  fair  to  think  him  so,"  he  answered,  and 
then  she  felt  condemned,  —  condemned  and  still  un 
easy. 

That  afternoon  as  she  sat  in  the  sitting-room  stitch 
ing,  Rachel  came  in,  and  leaning  over  the  centre  table 
began  eating  some  white  cherries  from  a  green  majolica 
dish.  A  tall,  old  clock,  which  pointed  to  six,  was 
loudly  ticking  a  slow  and  solemn  protest  against  all 
light  uses  of  time,  in  a  way  which  would  not  be  toler 
ated  for  an  hour  in  a  French  tune-piece,  whose  style 
of  clock  opera  invites  to  everything  rapid  and  gay,  and 
Mrs.  Guerrin's  mind  was  ticking  in  unison  with  its 
serious  seconds. 

While  they  were  thus  engaged  some  one  came  up 
the  walk  and  they  both  looked  quickly  out ;  but  it  was 
not  the  engineers,  whose  arrival  was  momentarily  ex 
pected.  It  was  a  messenger  who,  after  a  loud  tap  at 
the  brass  knocker,  gave  notice  that  the  gentlemen  who 
stayed  there  had  gone  up  to  the  tunnel  and  would  not 
be  back  for  several  days. 

"  What  a  pity,"  exclaimed  Rachel  when  he  had 
gone,  "  and  their  friends  here  such  i  short  time  too !  " 

"  It  would  be  better  if  they  had   never  come,"  said 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  89 

Mrs.  Guerrin  timorously.     "  We  are  afraid  they  are 
too  —  too  worldly." 

"  They  are  not  too  woildly  for  me,"  said  Rachel. 
"  I  like  it.  I  am  worldly  too." 

"  We  don't  object  so  much  to  the  ladies,"  said  Mrs. 
Guerrin,  borne  to  greater  lengths  by  this  sad  avowal, 
"  but  there  is  Mr.  Halstead  !  He  may  never  have  done 
anything  wrong ;  we  don't  say  he  has,  but  he  does  n't 
seem  to  have  any  moral  constitution.  Hannah  said 
herself,  that  he  did  n't  seem  to  have  any  moral  consti 
tution.  No  moral  constitution,  and  no  serious  thoughts, 
Hannah  thinks." 

"  He  has  some  beautiful  ones,"  ventured  the  girl. 

"  Could  it  be  that  you  were  a  little,  —  a  little  "  — 

Rachel's  face  grew  as  red  as  her  mother's  was  pale. 

"  I  like  him,"  she  cried.  "  I  never  get  tired  of  him. 
There  is  nobody  like  him ;  he  has  seen  so  much,  done 
BO  much.  He  goes  more  easily  than  he  stands.  I  en 
joy  him ! " 

"  It  is  n't  safe,  —  it  is  n't  safe  !  "  said  Mrs.  Guerrin, 
trembling. 

"  Oh,  no,  it  is  n't  safe,"  repeated  Rachel  gayly. 

The  next  two  days  crept  along  with  strangely  re 
tarded  motion.  The  evenings  dragged ;  the  noon-time 
scarcely  stirred.  It  took  an  hour  for-  the  clock  to  strike 
twelve ;  and  an  hour  for  each  team  to  pass.  When  a 
rooster  began  to  crow  he  finished  day  after  to-morrow 
and  each  sun  that  came  up  set  the  week  after  next. 
They  were  the  longest  days  of  Rachel's  slow-paced 
life.  On  the  evening  of  the  second  she  wandered 


90  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

idly  around  the  house,  her  thoughts  coming  and  going 
like  flocks  of  high-flying  birds  which  appear  out  of  the 
dim,  southern  skies,  and,  sweeping  overhead,  are  lost 
again  in  the  northern  distance. 

Presently  she  looked  down  the  still  road  at  tho 
white  cottages  with  green  blinds  ;  then  at  the  covered 
bridge  spanning  the  brook  ;  then  at  the  opening  in  the 
mountains  leading  to  the  upper  valley,  and  at  the  car 
riage  slowly  descending  through  the  gorge.  She  re 
called  the  bountiful  braids  of  Miss  Mason,  also  the 
commanding  manner  of  that  lady.  She  thought  of 
asking  them  all  down  to  the  Desborough  place,  and 
wondered  what  she  should  wear  on  that  occasion,  and 
what  sort  of  a  repast  she  should  have.  Then  she  pict 
ured  their  flounces  under  the  trees,  and  Miss  Mason 
walking  out  to  the  dining-room,  her  hand  upon  the  arm 
of  Mr.  Halstead  and  her  silk  dress  trailing  Ivhind. 
Ladies  of  the  elegant  society  sort  had  a  wonderful  at 
traction  for  Rachel,  —  as  great  an  attraction  as  epi 
grams  upon  life.  She  enjoyed  their  habitual  graces  ; 
their  full  trimmings,  their  affable  manners,  and  the 
care  they  took  to  make  all  things  appear  their  best ; 
but  the  thought  of  Miss  Mason  was  like  a  bird  of  an 
other  feather  among  the  sky-flyers  of  her  imagination. 

Strolling  round  the  north  wing,  something  upon  the 
side  of  the  house  claimed  her  attention,  and  leaning 
against  a  trellis,  she  fixed  her  eyes  upon  a  knot-hole 
through  which  a  swarm  of  vagabond  bees  were  trying 
to  domesticate  themselves  under  the  weather-boards. 
While  this  was  going  on  young  TIalstead  came  driving 


AN  EAENEST   TRIFLER.  91 

rapidly  up  the  road,  and,  heedless  of  the  approaching 
carriage,  turned  in  at  the  gateway.  His  restless,  rapid 
glance  swept  the  premises,  but  seeing  no  one  he  en 
tered  the  front  hall  and  went  through  the  parlor  to  the 
wing.  He  tried  to  persuade  himself  that  he  wanted 
some  estimates,  and  wondered  meanwhile  where  Rachel 
Guerrin  was.  A  restless  desire,  which,  however  prob 
able  in  others,  he  had  not  anticipated  in  himself,  had 
come  over  him  while  away ;  and,  as  he  rarely  omitted 
that  which  would  make  life  easier,  he  had  returned  in 
obedience  to  it.  As  he  went  over  to  his  desk  with  ab 
sent  mind  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  figure  by  the  trellis, 
and  crossing  to  the  window,  like  one  at  whose  feet  his 
wish  had  fallen,  seated  himself  in  front  of  it,  leaning 
upon  the  sill  with  his  hat  in  both  hands. 

"  Good  evening,"  he  said.     "  What  chance  is  this  ?  " 

"  I  thought  you  were  down  the  road,"  said  Rachel, 
in  some  confusion  caused  by  her  position  so  near  his 
window. 

"  So  I  am,"  he  answered. 

"You  were  not  to  be  back  till  to-morrow." 

"  Neither  will  T." 

"  You  are  at  work  there  ?  " 

"  Yes.  I  am  also  here.  When  one  has  to  be  in  two 
places  at  once  his  most  habitual  self  is  given  the  pref 
erence,  is  n't  it  ?  Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  man  hiring  a 
substitute  to  take  a  pleasure  trip  for  him  while  he  over 
worked  himself  in  peace  ?  I  drove  up.  If  you  will 
permit  me  I  will  come  out  and  join  you." 

Rachel  waited.     She  waited   some   moments ;  then 


92  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

started  toward  the  piazza.  She  met  Halstead  upon 
the  steps  coming  toward  her,  but  he  looked  annoyed, 
and  said  something  at  random  about  the  hilly  roads. 
He  was  evidently  disconcerted,  and  the  joyous  freedom 
of  his  manner  had  given  place  to  a  bored  constraint. 

In  fact,  as  he  left  his  room  the  moment  before, 
throwing  wide  open  the  door  in  his  haste,  he  con 
fronted  Dayton  upon  the  threshold,  and  a  certain  ob 
liquity  came  into  his  restless,  eager  glance. 

"  I  thought,"  said  Dayton,  "  that  you  were  at  the 
quarry." 

Halsiead  recovered  himself  and  answered  likewise. 
"  And  I  thought  you  were  at  the  tunnel." 

"  I  found  I  had  to  be  at  the  cut  to  morrow,"  an 
swered  Dayton  impenetrably,  "  so  came  along  on  the 
train.  How  did  you  get  in  ?  " 

"  Drove,"  replied  Halstead,  and  something  possessed 
him  to  add,  "  It  is  the  first  fruit  of  your  candor.  Now 
that  our  Boston  friends  are  here  we  can't  desert 
them." 


IX. 

IMMEDIATELY  after  supper  Half  tead  attired  himself 
in  garments  of  recent  importation,  and  started  on  foot 
up  through  the  gorge,  forgetting  in  his  annoyance  the 
horse  and  wagon  in  the  stable  yard.  He  did  not  ask 
Dayton  to  go  with  him,  and  Dayton  did  not  offer. 
Neither  did  he  mention  his  departure  to  Miss  Guer- 
rin.  He  walked  slowly,  and  instead  of  the  dashing 
manner  with  which  he  had  driven  into  the  village 
kept  his  eyes  upon  the  road  before  him,  and  his 
thoughts  upon  the  circumstance  that  propelled  him  hi 
default  of  an  animating  will.  He  called  himself  a  fool, 
—  doubly  a  fool.  A  fool  to  have  driven  eleven  miles 
over  a  rough  mountain  road,  and  a  fool  to  have 
cheated  himself  out  of  his  folly  lest  Dayton  should 
discover  it.  He  laughed  in  self-derision  ;  then,  on  the 
principle  that  if  a  man  is  a  fool  and  acknowledges  it 
he  ceases  to  be  one,  considered  that  he  had  ceased  to 
be  one.  And  still  the  idea  would  recur  to  him.  He 
was  very  much  out  of  sorts. 

When  he  arrived  at  Mrs.  Anderson's  he  discerned 
the  dresses  of  his  friends  out  near  the  borders  of  the 
orchard,  where  he  joined  them.  But  in  a  little  while, 
finding  himself  in  no  humor  for  polite  conversation,  he 
wandered  off  with  his  sister's  children,  and  when  the 
ladies  started  back  to  the  house  he  was  lying  unseen 


94  AN  EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

upon  the  grass,  and  the  boys  were  building  a  fort 
around  him  with  the  stones  that  had  once  formed  a 
wall  between  the  orchard  and  meadow.  He  raised  his 
head  to  look  after  their  retreating  figures  with  a  feeble 
thought  of  following  them,  when  Tommy,  who  was  still 
in  petticoats,  sat  down  upon  him  in  obedience  to  his 
brother's  orders,  and  this  light  obstacle  confirmed  his 
lack  of  purpose. 

He  listened  to  the  swallows  and  tree-toads ;  he 
looked  at  the  pines  on  the  mountains.  How  sweet  the 
hay  was  !  And  a  cloud  on  the  horizon  had  a  wonder 
ful  complexion  !  Yet  in  the  gray  depths  of  the  even 
ing  there  was  a  hopeless  perfection,  and  in  the  blank- 
ness  of  space  an  equilibrium  like  death.  How  patient 
the  hills  were;  what  were  they  waiting  for?  How 
breathless  the  valley  !  What  suspension  !  What  great, 
what  divine  indifference  !  What  negation,  what  sleep  ! 
It  depressed  him ;  it  had  in  it  a  species  of  anguish.  If 
the  world  were  made  out  of  nothing  there  seemed  plenty 
of  material  left,  around,  above,  and  within  him  for  an 
other  effort,  —  something  better  yet.  When  his  bones 
crumbled  and  he  became  a  permanent  part  of  a  hillside, 
he  might  waste  himself  on  inanimate  things.  In  the 
mean  time  the  evening  was  escaping  him.  He  shook 
himself.  He  did  not  lie  easily  on  the  grass.  What 
he  cared  for  was  friends,  —  friends  strong  and  active, 
and  beauty  of  the  sort  that  laughs  and  caresses  and  be 
reaves.  There  was  Rachel  Guerrin  ;  what  was  she 
probably  doing  ?  Why  should  a  man  stint  himself  the 
moment  he  found  something  sweet  ? 


AN   EARNEST   TEIFLER.  95 

He  raised  himself  up,  but  his  foot  demolished  part  of 
the  fort  like  a  Krupp  gun,  and  it  took  him  some  mo 
ments  to  repair  the  breach  and  pacify  the  garrison. 
Then  he  led  a  sortie  against  an  invisible  enemy,  and 
debouching  among  the  currant  bushes,  betrayed  his 
compatriots  into  the  hands  of  their  mother. 

He  would  have  gone  on  his  way  but  at  that  moment 
Louise  Mason  came  out.  It  seemed  unavoidable,  so 
he  lingered  for  a  moment  upon  the  square  and  una 
dorned  veranda. 

Louise  had  on  a  dress  of  some  dull  blue  fabric,  and 
over  her  shoulders  was  a  dull  blue  shawl,  which  an 
uncle  had  brought  her  from  Ispahan.  Dress  as  she 
would,  however,  she  looked  strange  to  him  in  Beau- 
deck,  —  like  a  gala-rosette  on  a  work-day,  he  said, 
and  he  missed  her  usual  background  of  cushions.  The 
rugged  surroundings  brought  out  a  certain  want  of 
nerve  in  her,  and  it  was  always  on  the  end  of  his 
tongue  to  tell  her,  in  handsomely  clothed  language,  to 
brace  up. 

"  We  are  glad  to  see  you  back,"  began  Louise,  who 
had  failed  to  carry  out  her  intention  of  going  home. 
"  When  did  you  come  ?  " 

"  An  hour  or  two  ago.  You  see  I  lost  no  time," 
answered  Halstead,  making  a  virtue  of  his  unpremedi 
tated  promptness.  "  You  knew  we  were  away  then  ? 
I  am  glad  of  that." 

"  Miss  Guerrin  told  us,"  said  Louise. 

"  Did  she  ?  "  said  Halstead,  negatively. 

"  We  have   quite   made   the   acquaintance   of  your 


96  AN  EARNEST   TEIFLER. 

^^-x, 

friends,"  Mrs.  Sterling  remarked.  "  Miss  Guerrin 
was  here  again  yesterday." 

"What  did  she  say  ?  "  the  young  man  inquired,  still 
negatively. 

"  Nothing  brilliant,"  Mrs.  Sterling  assured  him, 
with  sisterly  candor.  "  Nothing  that  was  n't  alto 
gether  young  and  commonplace." 

"  Don't  be  hard  on  her,"  protested  Nathan.  "  She 
is  more  generous.  She  said  some  pretty  things  of 
you." 

"  Ah !  she  tried  that,  did  she  ?  And  how  did  you 
receive  it  ?  " 

"  I  thanked  her,  and  told  her  the  resemblance  was 
very  great." 

" Then  she  made  her  point? " 

"  No.  She  did  n't  agree  with  me.  She  said  she 
could  n't  see  any  resemblance  whatever." 

"  When  she  flatters  you,  then,  she  does  n't  do  it 
through  me  ?  "  pursued  his  sister. 

"  She  declines  to  flatter  me,"  asserted  Halstead. 

"Or  Mr.  Dayton,  either,  it  would  appear.  She 
agreed  with  Margaret  that  he  was  very  stiff.  All  the 
burden  of  his  defense  rested  with  me." 

"  So  he  is,"  Nathan  assented.  "  With  her  he  is 
stiffer  than  ever,  —  not  so  much  stiff,  perhaps,  as  re 
mote.  He  always  speaks  to  her  from  a  fourth  story 
window.  How  did  she  look  yesterday?" 

"I  am  bound  to  say  she  looked  well.  Has  she 
really  always  lived  here,  and  never  seen  any  society 
except  that  of  centenarians  ?  I  don't  suppose  she  ever 
even  saw  a  German  !  " 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  97 

"  I  fear  not,"  answered  Halstead  with  mock  pity. 

"  We  ought  to  get  up  one  for  her  benefit,"  suggested 
Mrs.  Sterling,  her  propensity  for  getting  up  benefits 
overruling  every  other  consideration.  "  What  a  god- 
eend  you  must  be  to  her  ?  What  do  you  do  for  her 
entertainment  ?  " 

"  You  forget,"  said  Halstead,  "  that  I  am  not  here 
pleasuring.  Dayton  is  pushing  things  like  mad.  He 
works  all  day  on  the  road,  and  sits  up  half  the  night 
over  his  figures.  He  has  a  passion  for  figures.  For 
my  part  I  never  see  one  that  I  don't  want  to  knock 
it  down,  —  particularly  5's." 

"  Why  did  n't  he  come  up  here  with  you  ?  "  asked 
Louise. 

"  I  don't  know.  I  did  n't  ask  him,  and  he  did  n't 
volunteer." 

"  Perhaps  he  preferred  to  stay  with  Miss  Guerrin," 
observed  Mrs.  Sterling. 

Halstead  paused,  looked  at  her  curiously  a  moment, 
then  laughed  a  short  refutation  of  so  improbable  a 
suggestion. 

Mrs.  Sterling  passed  on  into  the  house,  and  Halstead 
still  stared  at  the  spot  where  she  had  been.  Raising 
his  glance  it  fell  upon  Louise  Mason,  in  whose  dull, 
pale  eyes  there  was  a  larger  vacuum  than  usual,  and  he 
seemed  to  feel  called  upon  to  stir  himself  to  greater 
social  exertion.  He  had  been  moving  about  on  the 
porch ;  now  he  sat  down,  picked  up  her  fan,  which  was 
also  of  a  dull  blue,  and  proceeded  to  adjust  it  to  her 
chatelaine  with  an  air  of  long  but  delicate  familiarity. 
7 


98  AN    EARNEST   TR1FLER.  - 

"You  wear  such  bewildering  things,"  he  said  gently, 
disengaging  at  the  same  time  her  vinaigrette.  "  What 
is  the  use  of  this  ?  Any  warmth  in  it  ?  Will  you  prob 
ably  faint  if  I  retain  it  a  few  moments  ?  '* 

"  It  is  possible,"  answered  Louise. 

"Very  well,"  he  said,  sniffing  the  salts  up  his  high 
bred  nostrils.  "  Please  proceed." 

Louise  recrossed  her  feet  (her  shoes  were  cut  out 
in  slats  to  show  her  dull  blue  stockings)  and  smiled,  — 
a  smile  shot  with  crow's  feet.  Halstead  looked  at  it 
and  wished  she  would  n'  t. 

"  How  do  you  like  your  quarters  ? "  he  inquired, 
with  secret  chafing  at  the  delay. 

"  It  is  pleasant  enough,"  she  replied,  glancing  off 
down  the  valley,  "  pleasant  but  uneventful." 

"  I  knew  you  would  find  it  so,"  he  declared.  "  I 
don't  suppose  you  ever  before  spent  a  week  in  which 
nothing  happened.  You  see  what  it  is  !  " 

"  It  is  n't  every  occurrence  these  days  that  has  the 
effect  of  something  happening,"  she  said.  "  The  ordi 
nary  run  of  events  at  home  was  scarcely  more  effective 
than  their  absence  here.  I  can't  say  I  miss  them." 

His  ear  caught  something  not  in  her  words.  "  You 
have  a  way  of  emphasizing  '  these  days '  as  if  they 
had  reference  to  some  more  propitious  then,  or  other. 
Why  do  you  ?  "  he  cried  bravely.  "  Now  !  then  ! 
when  !  they  never  resemble  each  other.  You  must  n't 
do  it.  It  is  n't  progressive." 

"  I  'm  not  progressive,  and  you  know  it,"  she  an 
swered  coolly,  shaking  her  long  sapphire  earrings. 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  99 

"  Where  have  you  been  since  I  saw  you  last  ?  "  he 
asked,  dropping  the  former  subject,  as  if  he  feared  it 
might  grow  hot. 

"  No  place  in  particular.  We  have  driven  about  a 
good  deal.  It  has  been  warm." 

"  I  should  think  it  had.  For  genuine  hot  weather 
commend  me  to  the  forty-fifth  parallel.  Down  where 
we  have  been  the  thermometer  went  up  to  where  it 
says  mules  die.  Up  here  it  is  better.  What  do  time- 
servers  do  in  the  country  when  it  is  too  warm  for  pic 
nics  ?  Can't  we  think  of  something  new  ?  What  do 
you  say  to  going  down  to  the  point  where  we  are  at 
work  ?  Don't  you  think  there  might  be  some  amuse 
ment  in  that  ?  " 

"  Certainly,"  said  Louise.    "  When  could  we  go  ?  " 

"  I  leave  the  day  to  you." 

"  On  Saturday  ?  " 

"  Saturday  is  as  good  a  day  as  any.  They  are  all 
the  same  size." 

Some  one  within  lighted  a  lamp  which  streamed 
across  the  veranda.  Louise  got  up  to  move  her  chair 
within  the  shadow,  and  Halstead  took  the  opportunity 
to  look  at  his  watch.  It  was  nine  o'clock.  He  too 
arose,  and  making  some  hasty  excuse  abruptly  took  his 
\eave. 

The  moonlight  was  white  upon  the  narrow  road,  and 
he  strode  along  at  a  rapid  pace  as  if  a  board  of  direct 
ors  were  waiting  for  him  in  special  session.  When  he 
reached  the  point  above  the  mill  where  the  road  began 
its  steep  descent,  he  peered  through  the  trees  at  the 


100  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

great  gray  house  whither  he  was  bound.  The  lights 
were  all  burning ;  so  he  ran  along  more  rapidly  than 
before.  When  he  reached  it  the  gate  closed  behind 
him  with  a  click.  Then  Dayton  appeared  in  the  lighted 
doorway ;  then  Rachel. 

Halstead  suddenly  felt  very  warm  and  much  excited. 
He  took  off  his  hat  and  passed  the  finest  of  cambric 
handkerchiefs  across  his  forehead. 

But  he  saw  Rachel  no  more  that  night. 


X. 

IN  the  course  of  the  preparations  for  the  tea-drinking 
Rt  the  Desborough  place,  Miss  Des  borough,  the  elder, 
sent  Rachel  to  the  wing  to  inquire  of  a  servant  en 
gaged  there  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  a  misplaced  cream- 
jug  which  was  of  rare  and  homely  shape  and  covered 
with  beasts  of  paleozoic  pattern.  The  maid  was  in  an 
inner  room,  and  Rachel  advanced  as  far  as  the  dressing 
bureau,  where  she  turned  mechanically  to  give  a  few 
touches  before  the  mirror  to  the  loose  locks  about  her 
shapely  head.  In  so  doing  her  eyes  fell  from  her  own 
reflection  to  Miss  Mason's  vinaigrette  lying  at  ease  upon 
the  silk  pin-cushion,  and  the  deft  touches  to  her  waving 
hair  changed  to  a  slight  pressure  of  the  palms  upon  her 
temples.  Through  one  of  the  links  of  its  chain  there 
ran  a  long  scarf  pin,  and  near  by,  like  an  arrogant 
sentinel,  stood  a  short,  much  bloated,  and  impertinent 
vial  labeled  Pommade  Hongroise  pour  fixer  les  Mous 
taches.  E.  Coudray,  Parfumeur,  a  Paris.  Such  as 
sociation  tells  endless  stories  which  are  either  exceed 
ingly  sad  or  exceedingly  sweet !  It  seemed  to  indicate 
to  Rachel  either  great  tenderness  or  a  very  sportive 
friendship  between  its  owner  and  treasurer,  and  to 
bring  back  to  her  mind  the  apprehensions  of  the  night 
before  which  had  been  foreshadowed  by  Dayton. 

And  yet  that  evening  after  the  tea-drinking,  when 


102  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

Mr.  Guerrin  was  showing  the  place  to  Mrs.  Sterling 
and  Halstead  to  Miss  Mason ;  when  they  had  gone 
through  the  blooming  geometry  of  the  garden  to  the 
river  bank,  strolling  in  groups  of  two  and  three ;  and 
when  Rachel,  stepping  behind  the  others,  straightened 
a  spear  of  wild  grass  in  front  of  her  remarking  upon 
its  length,  Halstead  left  Louise,  and  under  pretext  of 
cutting  the  stalk  kneeled  down  at  her  feet. 

"  Commend  me,  —  commend  me  !  "  he  said. 

"  For  what  ?  "  asked  Rachel. 

"  Don't  you  see  ?  For  exemplary  conduct.  For 
politeness  to  your  guest.  If  it  is  lost  upon  you  I  may 
as  well,  with  your  permission,  walk  with  you.  Don't 
you  remember  that  I  have  not  seen  you  for  days  ?  " 

She  thought  again  of  the  vinaigrette,  and  wondered 
if  he  gave  to  every  one  the  same  impression  of  eager 
preference.  She  lost  herself  in  wondering,  her  color 
mounting,  and  Nathan  waiting.  Then,  "  Nothing  that 
you  do  is  lost  upon  me,"  she  said.  "You  must  go 
on." 

And  later,  when  they  were  all  seated  with  summer 
informality  upon  the  porch,  and  when  Halstead  with 
his  guitar  was  walking  up  and  down  upon  the  pave 
ment,  singing,  Guide  me,  O  Thou  great  Jehovah,  to 
the  air  from  Martha,  and  with  the  manner  of  Fra 
Diavolo  singing  in  the  inn,  she  wondered  anew  that 
she  could  ever  have  attainted  him  with  suspicion  of 
hollowness.  All  the  world  loved  him  and  the  great 
Jehovah  smiled  upon  him. 

After  the  ladies  had  driven  off  Dayton  went  to  his 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  103 

room,  where  Halstead  shortly  followed  him,  carrying 
a  long,  green  blade  in  his  hand. 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  asked  Dayton. 

"  Grass." 

"  So  I  inferred  from  the  looks  of  it." 

"  Grass,"  repeated  Halstead,  putting  it  over  a  pict 
ure  of  a  faded  British  General.  "  Grass  as  graceful 
as  Miss  Guerrin  herself.  She  is  a  beautiful  reed.  She 
strikes  you  as  something  singularly  pliable,  yet  you 
know  that  somewhere,  you  can't  tell  just  where,  you 
would  find  her  wholly  inflexible.  I  would  like  to  go 
to  the  end  of  her  favor  to  find  where  her  rigor  begins. 
You  can't  tell  what  a  woman  is  like  till  you  know  her 
severities." 

"  It  strikes  me,"  said  Dayton,  "  that  you  are  follow 
ing  the  line  of  her  favor  tolerably  fast." 

"  Bah  !  "  rejoined  Halstead,  "  she  fancies  me  in  a 
way,  if  that  is  what  you  mean.  I  am  a  novelty  to  her. 
The  best  thing  of  the  kind  that  she  has  seen.  I  am 
her  opera,  her  charity  ball,  her  coupe,  her  six-button 
gloves,  her  train,  her  white  satin  slippers,  her  servant, 
—  things  she  has  never  had  and  would  like,  but  not 
things  necessary  to  her.  I  fill  in  her  mind  the  place 
of  those  fashionable  accessories.  I  am  everything 
which  she  has  missed,  and  which  therefore  she  is  cu 
rious  about.  I  touch  her  inquisitiveness.  These  in 
quisitive  people  have  no  hearts.  I  tell  you  the  girl  is 
sold." 

"  You  omit  an  item,"  said  Dayton  dryly. 

"  What  ?  " 


104  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"You  should  say  you  were  her  opera,  her  slippers, 
her  servant,  her  lover,  —  things  she  has  never  had  but 
not  things  necessary  to  her." 

Halstead  hesitated  a  moment  in  indecision,  then, 
"  So  I  should,"  he  frankly  confessed. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?  " 

"  Do  ?  Nothing.  What  can  I  do  ?  It  can't  be,  — • 
you  don't  suppose  "  —  He  stopped  as  if  his  idea  were 
inexpressible  by  ordinary  methods  ;  then  stroked  the 
ends  of  his  mustache.  "  You  are  the  most  practical 
fellow  that  ever  listed,"  he  cried.  "  No,  I  have  n't  lost 
my  wits  yet.  There  is  no  chance  of  that.  It  is  impos 
sible." 

"  Why  is  it  ?  "  persisted  Dayton  sharply. 

Halstead  hesitated  again,  casting  about  in  his  mind 
for  some  one  reason  among  the  many.  "  We  call  our 
selves  poor,"  he  said,  at  last. 

"  You  have  something  from  your  father,  and  you 
have  your  position.  For  that  matter  I  am  going  back 
to  California  and  you  can  step  into  my  place  here." 

"  No  more  of  that !  "  said  Halstead  with  heat.  "  I 
owe  you  too  much  already.  Imagine  me  marrying  and 
sailing  up  to  you  with  the  orange  blossoms  on  my  arm, 
saying,  '  Here  we  are  !  Help  please.  Two  of  us,  — 
take  us  up  tenderly  ! '  Not  if  I  know  myself.  When 
I  marry  I  must  see  my  way  to  all  the  comforts  and 
soaie  of  the  refinements  of  life  without  dependence 
on  conditions.  One  should  live  in  luxury  with  the 
woman  one  loves.  Thanks  to  you  all  the  same.  This 
is  the  first  I  have  heard  of  your  going  back  to  Call- 
ornia." 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  Nonsense,"  returned  Dayton  rising.  "  Beside 
most  any  one  would  think  he  could  do  the  handsome 
thing  on  what  you  have ;  it  is  quite  a  fortune." 

"  My  dear  friend,"  said  Halstead,  his  nostrils  dilat 
ing,  his  expression  growing  keener,  and  his  thoughts 
of  Rachel  fainter,  "  I  am  not  most  any  one.  I  am  a 
small  minority.  Most  any  one  may  do  as  he  sees  fit, 
—  marry  when  he  likes  and  as  often  as  he  likes ;  no 
doubt  he  is  a  very  respectable  and  courageous  person. 
I  have  no  fault  to  find  with  him  aud  no  improvement 
to  suggest.  I  am  simply  not  he.  "We  all  know  how 
your  poor  domestic  devils  live,  —  the  meagre,  wearing 
fashion  of  it.  We  see  men  every  day  putting  their 
brides  in  cottages  to  wear  themselves  and  their  wed 
ding  dresses  out.  Is  that  the  handsome  thing  you 
would  have  me  do  ?  I  shrink  before  the  very  idea  of 
a  homely  household  belonging  to  me.  I  hate  to  see 
a  woman  poor.  I  hate  even  their  pitiful  economies. 
And  to  make  one  so,  and  to  support  her  in  a  stingy 
way  would  be  blight  itself.  She  would  repent  it ; 
they  all  do ;  and  that  fatigued,  uninterested  look  I  so 
abominate  on  women's  faces  would  get  into  her  eyes 
and  streak  her  forehead.  I  simply  could  not  endure 
it.  You  would  see  a  notice  in  the  '  Advertiser  '  some 
fine  day,  '  Found  dead.  In  a  barrel  of  Venetian  red, 
one  Nathan  Hulstead,  M.  E.'  "  He  began  in  his  turn 
to  walk  about  the  room,  while  Dayton  with  his  back  to 
the  mantel-piece  glowered  upon  him  as  if  in  his  uncer 
tain,  fanciful  pacing  he  might  at  any  moment  come  too 
near. 


1  AH  EARNEST   TRULER. 

"  It  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world."  the  young 
man  wait  an,  "  whether  one  faces  the  possible  or  th« 
irrevocable,  —  the  difference  between  a  continent  and 
•  prison.  The  moment  I  knew  I  was  bonnd  I  would 
want  to  get  loose.  I  can't  settle  down  and  make  an 
end  of  it  jet.  After  thirty,  perhaps,  one  loses  oae'= 
hopes  and  vagaries  and  accepts  without  Kindness  what 
only  the  loss  of  his  wits  would  induce  him  to  accept 
in  Ids  youth.  1 11  wait  for  that  dull  period !  It  is 
coming ;  I  feel  it  but  I  have  a  year  or  two  yet  to 
run." 

"And  in  the  mean  time  what ? "  cried  Dayton,  with 
evident  self -suppression.  "  Since  when  was  the  blind 
ing  passion  so  submissive  to  argument  ?  " 

"Since  I  left  Paris,"  answered  Halstead  with  a 
frown. 

**  That  woman  never  cared  for  you,"  said  Dayton. 
referring  to  some  old  confidence  between  them. 

Halstead  went  over  to  the  window  and  stood  look 
ing  oat  for  a  few  moments,  then  turned  and  came  back. 
- 1  know  what  yon  are  after."  he  said,  "  bat  joa  mis 
take.  Neither  does  Rachel  Guerrin  care  for  me,  — 
particularly.  Let  your  mind  rest  easy." 

"  Ask  her,  and  be  done  with  it,"  Dayton  demanded. 

'  And  then  ?    Suppose  she  does,  what  then  ?  " 

**  If  necessary  you  could  wait  a  year  or  two  "  — 

"  Or  three  or  four  or  five  ?  That  is  another  wretched 
piece  of  business.  Think  of  being  engaged  through 
sixty  moons  to  the  beloved  of  your  heart ;  holding  her 
en  one  side  till  you  were  tired,  then  twisting  her  round 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  107 

to  the  other,  and  whispering,  '  When  I  am  rich,  love, 
we  will  be  married.'  No.  brother.  Neither  have  I 
come  to  that.  What  a  strait-laced  country  it  is,"  he 
added.  "  You  no  sooner  observe  that  a  young  lady  is 
pretty,  than  some  one  comes  up  and  asks  you  what 
you  are  going  to  do  about  it.  I  am  going  to  do  noth 
ing  about  it.  I  mean  her  no  harm,  you  may  be  sure 
of  that ! " 

"  No  harm  !  Good  Lord,  no  harm !  He  means  her 
no  harm !  "  and  Dayton's  face  curled  up  into  such  a 
sinister  expression  as  left  no  trace  of  his  usual  self. 
His  eyes,  never  large,  grew  smaller,  and  his  inauspi 
cious  temper  contracted  his  brows  and  drove  the  color 
from  his  lips.  He  did  not  look  handsome  against  the 
black  mantel-piece. 

He  took  his  hat  and  bolted  out  into  the  night  air. 

O 

When  he  returned  Halstead  still  sat  moodily  where 
he  had  left  him.  He  seemed  to  have  passed  the  time 
In  unsatisfactory  contemplation.  He  looked  up  at 
Dayton  as  he  came  in,  but  they  separated  for  the  night 
without  wasting  further  words. 


XI. 

IT  was  several  days  before  Halstead  again  say? 
Rachel  save  in  the  all-pervading  presence  of  her 
friends  and  relatives.  He  watched  her  furtively  arid 
was  always  in  her  vicinity,  but  made  no  effort  as  for 
merly  to  talk  with  her  alone.  He  frowned  frequently 
and  without  reason.  He  avoided  Dayton  and  was  un 
easy  everywhere.  He  avoided  Louise  Mason  as  well, 
and  no  sooner  decided  upon  one  thing  than  he  changed 
his  mind  and  did  another.  He  seemed  suspicious,  ir 
resolute.  He  talked  of  going  away,  and  yet  he  stayed. 
lie  meditated  self-sacrifice,  but  sacrificed  nobody. 

Rachel  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  him,  and  waited 
as  for  the  breaking  of  a  fairer  day.  Meanwhile  there 
came  a  letter  for  her  from  a  great-aunt,  —  great,  not 
only  as  regards  propinquity,  but  as  regards  her  position ; 
her  appointments,  and  her  opinion  of  herself  as  well, 
and  she  wrote  to  invite  her  niece,  whom  she  had  not 
seen  for  ten  years,  to  spend  the  rest  of  the  season  at 
her  house.  And  yet  the  girl  said  she  did  not  care  to 
go.  Rachel,  whose  highest  pleasure  it  had  been  to  go, 
ever  since  she  was  born !  It  was  incredible,  but  was 
set  down  at  once  by  her  relatives  on  her  mother's  side 
to  the  strange  perversity  of  the  Guerrin  mind.  The 
Guerrins,  although  their  name  was  misspelled  in  this 
country,  were  originally  French,  and  were  therefore 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  109 

capable  of  —  anything  if  you  are  English  and  your  an 
cestors  were  ever  missionaries  to  the  Pokanokets  ! 

"  Go  ?  "  said  Rachel ;  "  I  would  not  care  to  go  to 
paradise  just  now  !  " 

That  was  certainly  French.  The  Desboroughs  had 
always  wanted  to  go  to  paradise,  and  nothing  but  the 
divine  will  detained  them.  But  what  was  it  that  could 
keep  even  a  French  girl  from  paradise  ? 

It  was  on  the  evening  of  the  day  they  had  gone 
down  the  road  in  fulfillment  of  the  engagement  made 
between  Halstead  and  Miss  Mason,  that  engagement 
having  been  postponed  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  gen 
tlemen  from  Boston.  The  party,  reinforced  by  Messrs. 
Sterling  and  Meade,  had  gone  down  on  a  gravel  car 
sent  for  that  purpose,  with  Halstead  in  the  cab  in  the 
post  of  engineer,  and  had  spent  several  hours  in  con 
versation,  in  strolling,  and  in  inspection  of  the  diffi 
cult  engineering  feats  which  it  had  been  their  object  to 
see.  They  were  at  the  station  waiting  for  the  evening 
up-train,  which  was  very  late,  and  while  waiting  walked 
up  and  down  the  platform  ;  examined  the  placards  on 
the  walls,  and  read  over  and  over  again  the  advertise 
ments  of  the  Fall  River  Line,  without  which  the  scenery 
of  the  New  England  and  Middle  States  would  be 
unadorned.  They  discussed  the  rates  to  Omaha;  they 
balanced  themselves  on  the  rails,  and  in  short  indulged 
in  the  common  pastimes  incident  to  the  situation  and 
practiced  by  all  intelligent  travelers ;  while  a  pair  of 
slanting  blue  eyes  belonging  to  a  little  figure  in  a  calico 
dress  surveyed  them  through  a  friendly  aperture. 


110  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  What  are  you  doing  here,  Margot  ?  "  asked  Hal- 
stead,  addressing  it  when  the  others  were  without. 

•'  Nothing,"  she  replied. 

"  Then  you  would  better  go  home,"  he  said.  "  It  i& 
gatting  late." 

At  nine  o'clock  the  real  business  of  waiting  set  in, 
and  they  seemed  in  a  fair  way  to  pay  pretty  dearly  for 
their  short  diversion.  Evidently  the  station  was  for 
the  use  of  the  workmen  only,  since  not  a  house  noi 
even  a  road  was  in  sight.  Everywhere  rose  the  dark, 
overshadowing  pines.  Below  them  lay  the  river.  To 
the  right  was  a  high  and  curving  bridge  for  temporary 
use,  while  another  half  constructed  struck  obliquely 
across  to  the  opposite  mountain  range.  The  cramped 
and  narrow  valley  was  full  of  fallen  timbers,  of  huge 
abutment  stones,  of  derricks,  and  of  disabled  cars,  some 
of  which  were  occupied  by  the  families  of  the  laborers. 

Halstead  was  in  a  worse  mood  than  ever.  In  fact 
his  waiting,  his  self-restraint,  and  his  principles  were 
fast  becoming  insupportable  to  him,  and  while  reso 
lutely  administeiing  to  Miss  Mason's  entertainment  he 
was  consumed  by  a  desire  to  appease  his  spirit  by  talk 
ing  with  Rachel  Guerrin,  who  was  then  leaning  against 
a  pile  of  ropes  with  Dayton  by  her  side. 

It  grew  later  and  later.  It  was  unendurable.  When 
the  night,  in  his  opinion,  was  far  spent,  and  jocund 
day  might  at  any  moment  have  been  expected  upon 
the  mountain-tops,  it  happened  that  the  various  little 
coteries  broke  up  and  that  Rachel  for  a  moment  stood 
done  upon  the  platform. 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  Ill 

Halstead  immediately  crossed  over  to  her.  "  Can 
nothing  ruffle  you  ?  "  he  said,  half  smiling,  half  frown 
ing.  "  You  are  too  amiable,  —  too  easily  pleased. 
You  can  never  be  more  than  happy  you  know,  and 
it  is  simple  to  be  filled  with  it  because  the  night  hap 
pens  to  be  mild  and  because  all  these  people  who 
ought  to  be  at  home  are  dancing  around  you.  Be 
discontented  like  me !  Be  rapacious,  —  be  irritable ! " 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  said  Rachel.  "  What  has 
been  the  matter  ?  " 

"  Come,"  said  Halstead,  "  tell  me  what  Dayton  has 
been  saying  to  you  to  make  the  time  fly." 

"  He  told  me,"  returned  the  girl,  "  that  the  ropes  we 
leaned  upon  were  from  Yucatan,  from  a  town  called 
Merida,  —  was  it  ?  " 

"  Zounds !     Was  he  so  sentimental  as  that  ?  " 

"  He  is  never  sentimental,"  said  Rachel. 

"  You  think  him  prosy,  do  you  ?  " 

"  Well,  no,  not  prosy." 

"  What  then  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know.  Must  one  be  either  sentimental  or 
prosy  ?  " 

"  Matter-of-fact,  perhaps." 

"  He  is  certainly  matter-of-fact." 

"  What  else  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  him  very  well." 

"  Not  as  well  as  you  do  me  ?  " 

«  No. " 

"  He  has  been  here  as  long  as  I." 

"  That  is  nothing,"  she  assured  him. 


112  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLEE.  """ 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Halstead,  "  you  would  take  mj 
arm.  We  might  walk  a  little  before  morning.  I  havd 
been  wanting  to  see  you  to  restore  me.  Say  something, 
to  me,  can't  you  ?  Pacify  me,  make  me  glad." 

"  I  ?  How  can  I  ?  "  she  asked,  beginning  to  walk 
with  him  along  the  platform. 

From  this  lonely  staging  high  up  on  the  steep 
mountain  side  even  the  attentive  stars  looked  strange. 

"  I  am  out  of  patience,  out  of  spirits,  out  of  sorts, 
out  of  conceit,  out  of  my  head,  out  of  tune,  —  out  gen- 
erally,"  the  young  man  went  on  capriciously,  as  if  car 
rying  the  thoughts  of  an  old  mood  into  a  new  and 
happier  temper. 

"  I  thought  that  with  you  those  things  were  always 
at  home,"  said  Rachel. 

"  Come,  be  serious." 

"  I  don't  know  when  to  be  serious  with  you ;  you 
never  seem  to  be." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  sentimental  ? "  continued 
Halstead.  "  What  is  it  that  I  am  and  Dayton  is 
not  ?  " 

"  I  did  not  say  that  you  were  that." 

"  No,  but  you  think  it  all  the  same.  In  fact  you  are 
quite  right.  What  is  it  to  be  sentimental  ?  Is  it  to  be 
a  triffe  maudlin  in  one's  ideas." 

"  That  depends  upon  how  you  use  it." 

"  Well  how  do  you  use  it  ?  " 

"  Not  that  way." 

"  Is  it  to  be  hampered  with  impotent  sensibilities  ? 
Here  in  America  a  man  should  have  no  more  ideas 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  113 

tTian  he  can  promptly  make  use  of  in  a  practical 
career." 

"  Oh,  yes,  he  should.     The  more  the  better." 

"  They  fetter  him  you  see.  They  make  a  weakling 
of  him.  They  interfere  with  action." 

"  They  make  him  interesting,"  added  his  companion. 

Halstead  paused  a  moment.  Then,  "  I  have  an 
idea,"  he  said,  "  that  Dayton  has  a  fancy  for  you  him 
self." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  "  inquired  Rachel. 

"  I  suspect  that  he  would  like  to  monopolize  you. 
That  if  you  would  knock  he  would  let  you  in.  I  im 
agine  that  even  now,  while  he  commits  himself  about 
the  cables  yonder,  he  is  pondering  your  eyebrows. 
Jove  !  I  would  n't  say  what  he  was  n't  pondering." 

"  You  shall  not  say  such  a  thing,"  cried  the  girl,  her 
face  growing  slowly  red. 

"  He  would  like  to  let  himself  go,"  declared  Halstead. 
"  He  would  like  to  fall  in  love  with  you." 

"  You  have  no  right  "  —  she  began ;  but  she  was 
unable  to  say  further  what  his  infringement  was.  Her 
indignation  was  lost  in  thoughts  fast  following,  and 
stopping,  she  half  withdrew  her  hand  from  his  arm. 

Halstead,  raising  his  own  arrested  it.  "  Wait  a 
moment,"  he  said,  and  going  on  a  few  steps  farther  into 
the  deeper  and  less  populous  darkness  he  stopped  be 
side  the  pile  of  ropes,  while  his  thoughts,  his  prospects, 
his  desires,  and  all  the  wandering  tendrils  of  his  being 
coiled  about  the  spot  more  closely  than  the  cables. 
"  He  would  like  to  monopolize  you,"  he  persisted,  still 
8 


114  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

holding  her  unwilling  fingers.  "  And  he  would  like  to 
see  me  in  Jericho.  This  is  my  opportunity.  I  should 
go  to  Jericho.  But  I  don't  do  it.  It  is  a  case  where 
sentiment  prevents  action.  You  wanted  an  illustra 
tion." 

"  Oh,"  said  Rachel,  changing  color  again,  "  you 
were  illustrating,  were  you  ?  It  is  too  absurd  !  " 

"  But  if  it  were  so  ?  "  persisted  the  young  man. 

"  I  should  think  that  your  going  would  be  more 
sentimental  than  staying.  What  difference  would  i*, 
make  ?  " 

"  None,  if  you  say  it  would  make  none." 

"  Of  course,  it  would  make  none,"  she  answered, 
withdrawing  her  hand. 

"  Then  I  need  n't  go." 

"  Is  that  what  you  have  been  thinking  of  ?  "  she 
asked.  "  You  are  too  good.  I  thought,"  —  but  she 
did  n't  say  what  she  thought.  She  laughed  a  little  in 
stead.  "  You  are  sentimental  truly,"  she  added.  "  Is 
that  all  that  has  made  you  out  of  sorts  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Halstead,  looking  down  at  the  fog  form 
ing  over  the  river,  "  I  have  been  more  sentimental 
even  than  that.  I  have  had  a  fit  of  self-disgust,  and 
a  longing  for  something  better,  —  that  is  the  height 
of  sentiment,  is  n't  it  ?  It  sounds  almost  maudlin 
when  you  read  it  in  the  books.  I  have  a  desire  for 
respectability  and  substance.  I  would  like  to  define 
myself  by  a  definite  position  and  belongings  like  those 
of  other  men  ;  to  rate  my  capacity  by  what  I  can  do ; 
to  plod  along ;  to  be  contented ;  to  form  ties ;  to  Le 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  115 

practical.  I  have  run  around  till  I  have  had  a  surfeit 
of  impressions,  —  till  I  am  covered  with  them.  I  am 
like  an  old-clothes  shop  in  the  East  hung  with  the 
vivid  rags  and  heroic  tatters  of  all  manner  of  people. 
I  would  like  to  throw  them  off,  whitewash  the  native 
structure,  and  begin  again.  What  would  you  think  of 
such  a  project  ?  " 

"  I  ?  "  said  Rachel,  "  I  can  only  say,  '  Ah  !  ah ! ' 
as  people  do  to  what  is  strange  to  them." 

"  It  is  you  who  urge  me  to  it." 

"  I  urge  you  to  nothing.  Your  disgust  is  new. 
Your  longing  is  new.  I  doubt  if  they  will  ever  be 
old." 

"  You  are  beautiful,"  said  Halstead  ;  "  that  urges  me  ! 
You  rob  the  common  lot  of  its  forbidding  common- 
placeness  ;  that  urges  me  !  You  don't  know  your  ca 
pacity.  I  want  you  to  exert  it ;  to  do  your  utmost, 
—  to  push  me  to  extremes ;  to  hurry  me  head'  :>ng. 
I  will  submit  to  your  influence  like  a  man." 

"  However  you  begin,"  returned  Rachel,  flushing 
again,  "  the  end  is  the  same,  —  some  pretty  speech, 
like  a  strain  blown  up  a  hill.  I  may  like  them,  but  1 
don't  like  myself  so  well  for  liking  them." 

"  What  is  that  but  urging  me  ?  "  exclaimed  Halstead 
u  That  is  very  strenuous.  You  will  bring  the  truth  to 
a  point  where  belief  is  inevitable." 

"  I  have  no  wish  to  push  you  to  extremes,"  she  went 
on  with  vehement  denial.     "  If  you  want  to  be  practical, 
be  practical ;  if  you  want  to  begin  anew,  begin  anew 
but  don't  assume  that  I  have  an  influence  which  I  have 
not,  or  that  I  would  wish  to  use  it  if  I  had  it." 


116  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

A  dingy  lamp  placed  in  a  dingy  window  made  a  line 
of  lighter  shade  across  the  platform  where  Dayton  was 
promenading  with  Mrs.  Sterling,  and  Halstead  uncon 
sciously  waited  till  they  were  near  the  farthest  limit 
of  their  route ;  then,  "  You  look  about  you,"  he  said, 
"  with  such  avidity  that  one  wants  to  respond  to  your 
inquiring  glance  with  all  that  he  knows  and  is.  If  I 
have  responded  more  fervently  than  pleases  you,  and 
added  to  what  I  know  and  am  a  little  that  I  feel  and 
hope  to  be,  you  have  only  your  eye-beam  to  blame. 
It  offers  to  look  into,  one  and  to  take  one  at  one's  best. 
I  thought  if  I  showed  you  all  it  would  be  only  too 
little.  You  seem  to  be  looking  for  some  ideal  enter 
tainment,  for  some  sublimated  sentiment,  for  some 
thing  that  should  justify  the  candle,  and  I  would  simply 
contribute  myself  whole  to  help  you  find  it.  It  seems 
that  I  can  be  of  no  considerable  use." 

The  inquiring  eye-beam  was  fixed  upon  him  then  if 
never  before,  —  upon  his  eager  expression  and  his 
facile  mouth.  "  When  I  think  the  entertainment  has 
,x>me,"  she  said  with  agitation,  "  and  that  I  am  in  the 
midst  of  it,  you  smile  and  tell  me  there  is  no  such 
thing." 

"  We  might  find  it  together."  he  answered  ardently. 

From  a  distance  there  came  the  shrill  whistle  of  a 
locomotive  and  the  rushing  sound  of  a  train.  A  man 
came  out  of  the  station  with  a  lantern  which  he  swung 
violently  to  and  fro.  Then  the  head-light  threw  its 
clear,  full  glare  upon  them  and  the  coils  of  various 
sorts  about  them.  It  affected  Halstead  like  the  brill 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  117 

iant,  perspicacious  stare  of  the  critical  world,  and 
frowning  like  one  who  had  been  surprised  in  a  rhap 
sody  he  went  forward  saying,  "  Here  we  are  at  last ! " 

Meanwhile  Louise  Mason,  murmuring  something 
about  the  dampness,  had  gone  within  where  she  pres 
ently  became  aware  that  she  was  not  alone. 

The  one  smoky  lamp  but  faintly  illumined  the  bar 
ren  interior,  but  the  four  walls  designed  to  sepulchre 
such  unfortunates  as  were  obliged  to  do  their  waiting 
there  offered  few  facilities  for  concealment ;  and  going 
over  toward  the  door  she  descried  in  one  corner,  be 
hind  the  counter  and  sitting  curled  up  against  the  win 
dow,  the  slim  girl  who  had  made  them  the  object  of 
her  slanting  observation  earlier  in  the  evening. 

She  was  apparently  indulging  in  silent  and  solitary 
state  some  dim  idea  of  intercourse  with  the  gifted  com 
pany  in  whose  midst  she  had  hidden  her  easily-hidden 
self.  She  sat  with  her  head  against  the  wall,  but  from 
time  to  time  leaned  forward  and  looked  out  upon  the 
high  society  on  the  platform,  and  seemed  to  find  rare 
but  melancholy  entertainment  in  the  spectacle  of  their 
.ight  pedestrianism  in  the  heart  of  the  region  where 
she  called  herself  at  home.  No  shuffling  of  heavy  feet, 
no  swinging  of  over-long  arms,  no  ungainly  slouching 
across  the  boards,  such  as  she  was  used  to  seeing  there, 
but  the  easy,  graceful  strolling  of  the  class  that  prom 
enades  !  She  did  not  seem  to  mind  the  presence  of 
Louise  or  to  take  the  slightest  account  of  herself  as  a 
waif  in  a  strange  position. 

"  Do  you  belong  here  ? "  asked  Louise,  accosting 
her. 


V,    - 
118  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  No.     I  came  up  to  see,"  answered  the  girl. 

"  To  see  what  ?  " 

"  You  and  all." 

"  Where  did  you  come  from  ?  " 

"  Down  there,"  and  she  nodded  toward  the  valley. 

"  Won't  your  family  miss  you  ?  It  is  nearly  mid 
night." 

"  I  have  n't  any  family,  only  father."  ;. 

"  Won't  he  miss  you  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Did  you  come  over  on  the  bridge  ?  " 

"Yes'm." 

Thus  disturbed  Margot  got  down  from  her  seat 
and  stood  with  her  hands  behind  her  back  absorbed  in 
the  contemplation  of  Miss  Mason's  elegance,  and  as 
unaware  as  ever  of  her  own  singular  person.  Her 
person  was  probably  never  much  noticed,  and  she 
shared  in  the  common  opinion  of  its  unworthiness. 
She  was  small  and  thin.  Her  cheek  bones  were  high. 
There  were  freckles  over  her  nose ;  and  her  eyes  were 
drawn  down  at  the  corners  as  if  they  had  been  im 
ported  from  Tartary  generations  back.  Her  hair, 
which  was  light  and  thin,  was  parted  evenly  and 
braided  in  a  tight,  circumspect  braid,  which  ended 
happily  in  a  bit  of  ribbon  almost  new.  She  wore  a 
dark  cotton  dress  and  her  feet  were  bare. 

Halstead  had  looked  at  her  feet  one  day,  when  he 
was  standing  near  the  station  talking  with  Hodson, 
the  contractor.  Hodson  was  telling  him  an  anecdote. 
Hodson  told  remarkable  anecdotes,  with  a  jovial  laugh 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  119 

and  his  thumbs  under  his  arms.  In  the  course  of  the 
story  Halstead  observed,  with  partial  consciousness 
and  inattentive  sense,  a  pair  of  brown  and  shapely  feet 
standing  near,  like  the  extremities  of  some  half-sized 
Btatue  exhumed  from  the  statue-cumbered  soil  of 
Greece  ;  and  when  the  anecdote  was  finished  and  the 
laugh  over,  he  raised  an  artistic  eye  to  cover  the  rest 
of  the  relic,  but  found  it  protected  from  observation 
by  a  drapery  of  brown  and  spotted  calico.  It  was 
not  from  Greece,  but  its  pose  was  admirable.  It  was 
watching  him.  It  was  strangely  self-oblivious.  Pres 
ently  it  turned  away  and  was  lost  among  the  firs. 

She  bent  some  such  look  now  upon  Miss  Mason's 
well-moulded  figure  and  complex  costume. 

"  Are  you  his  folks  ?  "  she  presently  asked. 

"  Whose  folks  ?  "  inquired  Louise. 

"  His,  —  the  engineer's  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Dayton's  ?  " 

"No, — the  other." 

"Yes." 

"  Has  he  always  lived  among  such  as  you  ?  "  And 
she  surveyed  the  costume  once  more.  "  He  showed 
me  how  to  make  them  things,"  she  added  presently, 
pointing  to  a  shelf  behind  the  counter  on  which  were 
ranged  some  rough  figures  fashioned  in  clay.  "  I 
make  'em  and  he  looks  at  'em  when  he  comes  up  here 
noons." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  at  it  ?  "  asked  Louise. 

"  Most  ever  since  we  came.  He  spoiled  some  once 
and  paid  me  for  'em ;  then  he  took  his  hat  off,  bowed 


120  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

and  laughed  and  went  away.  Those  are  his.  He  is 
very  kind." 

"  He  is  always  kind,"  said  Louise,  "  very  kind,  and 
if  you  die  of  it,  it  is  your  own  fault." 

"  When  he  goes  away  does  he  go  where  you  are  ?  " 

Louise  went  over  and  took  her  by  the  hand.  "  You 
should  go  home,"  she  said,  very  gently  for  Louise. 

Presently  the  girl  started  and  slipped  out  a  side 
door  behind  the  counter,  and  then  the  train  came  puff 
ing  in. 

When  it  had  gone  on  she  came  back  in  front  of  the 
station  and  looked  after  it  until  even  the  sound  no 
longer  reached  her.  Then  she  started  off  across  the 
bridge,  the  fog  creeping  up  about  her  feet,  obscuring 
the  depths  below. 


xn. 

"  NATHAN,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling,  a  few  days  later, 
"  what  are  you  saying  to  Rachel  Guerrin  ?  " 

"  You  can't  accuse  me  of  saying  much  of  anything 
to  her  within  forty-eight  hours,"  replied  that  young 
gentleman,  with  an  effort  at  indifference.  "Neither 
Dayton  nor  I  came  up  last  night." 

"  You  hover  about  her  in  a  way  that  can't  be  mis 
taken,"  continued  his  sister.  "  I  have  seen  you  do  it 
too  often." 

"  So  do  you.    So  does  Dayton.    So  does  every  one." 

"  I  suspect  you  of  cultivating  a  little  tenderness  in 
that  quarter,"  she  went  on,  not  noticing  his  irrelevant 
suggestion. 

Halstead  pulled  his  hat  down  over  his  eyes,  perhaps 
to  cover  a  frown,  and  held  his  head  higher  than  ever. 
"  Given  Rachel  Guerrin,  an  endless  summer,  and  the 
little  naked  god  that  goes  everywhere  unbidden,  and 
what  else  could  you  expect  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  She  is  too  pretty,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling,  warningly. 

"  She  is  very  pretty,"  assented  Nathan,  chafing. 

"  She  is  not  insensible." 

"  To  what  ?  " 

"  To  you." 

k  What  are  you  trying  to  get  at  ?  "  he  cried  with 
irritation. 


122  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  It  can't  be,  —  surely  you  are  not  serious." 

"  No  !  "  shouted  Halstead. 

They  went  on  a  few  minutes  in  silence. 

"  Why  should  n't  I  be  ?  "  he  asked  indifferently 
again.  "  I  hate  the  fashion  of  coolly  weighing  such  a 
point." 

"  She  is  too  simple,  —  too  —  too  agricultural,"  re 
sponded  Mrs.  Sterling  with  a  fine,  discriminating  smile 
which  expanded  her  nostrils. 

"  She  is  neither,  —  superlatively,"  answered  the 
young  man. 

"  Mother  would  be  horrified,"  observed  his  sister, 
with  a  look  which  reminded  him  of  the  stare  of  the 
locomotive  two  evenings  previous. 

"  It  would  n't  be  the  first  time." 

"  You  refer  to  my  marriage.  But  she  did  n't  send 
me  to  Paris.  She  did  n't  expect  anything  brilliant  of 
me.  Your  wife  must  be  the  flower  of  creation ;  an 
exceedingly  tall  and  brilliant  flower.  And  she  must 
have  money  and  influence  at  her  back." 

"  No  matter  what  she  expects." 

"  You  forget  Louise." 

"  Excuse  me,  I  don't  forget  her,"  answered  Halstead 
coldly. 

This  fragment  of  conversation  was  on  the  mount 
ain  back  of  Mrs.  Anderson's  house  whither  the  friends 
of  our  acquaintance  had  gone,  —  that  mild  effort  at 
mountaineering  being  all  that  the  weather  and  the 
limited  time  of  the  engineers  would  permit. 

It  was  toward  the  close  of  a  July  day,  and  scarcely 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  123 

a  leaf  stirred  in  the  woods  through  which  they  passed. 
The  circuitous  road  by  which  they  ascended  was  one 
used  for  getting  out  timber  in  winter,  was  carpeted 
with  the  softest  green,  and  shaded  by  pines  and  birch 
es,  and  led  them  by  a  gradual  inclination  to  the  wood- 
choppers'  camp  upon  the  summit.  In  fact  the  mount 
ain,  as  it  was  called,  hardly  deserved  that  special 
distinction,  as  it  was  merely  the  centre  of  a  group  of 
taller  fellows  that  rose  above  it  in  all  directions,  and 
on  top  it  expanded  in  a  waste  of  wild  and  rugged 
country  made  picturesque  by  gigantic  rocks  and  a 
small,  clear  lake  supplied  by  hidden  springs. 

That  evening  when  Mr.  Sterling,  with  Rachel  already 
in  the  carriage,  had  driven  to  the  depot  for  the  engi 
neers,  in  pursuance  of  his  wife's  scheme  for  a  picnic, 
Dayton  had  entered  at  once,  oblivious  of  his  former 
abhorrence  of  that  pastime  ;  while  Halstead,  with  his 
hand  on  the  carriage  door,  had  looked  about  him  as 
if  in  search  of  some  supernatural  interposition.  Find 
ing  none,  however,  and  meeting  Rachel's  smile,  he  too 
entered.  But  while  he  counterfeited  his  usual  spirits, 
and  lent  himself  indiscriminately  among  his  friends  on 
the  way  up  the  mountain,  he  still  remained  at  heart 
uneasy,  irresolute,  rapacious. 

"  And  this  is  it  ? "  he  exclaimed,  appealing  to 
Rachel  when  they  paused  upon  the  shore  of  the  melan 
choly  lake.  "  This  is  it ;  the  place  where  unfortu 
nate  Beaudeckers  come  !  How  many  annually  ?  It 
is  very  convenient.  Why  did  n't  you  bring  us  here 
sooner  ?  We  have  lived  longer  than  necessary  withiu 
reach  of  such  advantages." 


24  AN   EARNEST    TKIFLER. 

"  You  are  still  willfully  wasting  breath,"  said  Mr 
Sterling.  But  Mr.  Sterling  was  one  of  those  to  whom 
Nathan's  existence  was  not  a  necessity. 

"  Oh,"  said  Halstead  lightly.  "  I  make  no  leaps 
If  ever  there  was  a  temporizer  I  am  one." 

"  It  is  beautiful,"  said  Louise,  "  quite  like  Switzer 
land  !  But  it  is  melancholy,  is  n't  it  ?  Was  there 
ever  a  suicide  here  ?  " 

"  Never,"  said  Eachel,  smiling.  "  Mr.  Halstead  will 
be  the  first." 

"  Not  he,"  said  Louise. 

A  crane  upon  the  farther  shore  stalked  away ;  and 
some  wild  ducks  swimming  in  the  shadows  rose  in 
alarm,  and,  flapping  their  wings  upon  the  dusky  air, 
went  swiftly  in  search  of  more  desolate  pools,  their 
shapes  as  long  and  linear  as  if  they  flew  on  a  Japanese 
screen. 

"  Come,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling,  "let  us  have  our  supper. 
There  is  no  tune  to  lose."  The  Anderson  boys,  who 
carried  the  commissary  stores,  were  already  building  a 
fire  and  unpacking  the  baskets  ;  and  she  turned  to  their 
assistance,  followed  by  several  of  the  party. 

Mr.  Meade  and  Margaret  Duncan,  however,  pur 
sued  the  path  a  short  distance  along  the  margin  of  the 
lake.  Mr.  Meade  was  the  gentleman  to  whom  Miss 
Duncan  was  engaged,  and  although  he  was  as  homely 
as  if  Thomas  Nast  had  made  him  and  presented  him  to 
his  parents,  she  highly  approved  him  even  to  the  plain 
ness  of  his  visage  and  the  gentle  slope  of  his  narrow 
shoulders.  He  was  about  forty  years  of  age,  and  a 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  12.) 

partner  in  a  wholesale  establishment  for  the  sale  of 
silks.  After  telling  that  a  man  is  from  Boston  one  is 
heartily  sorry  to  add  that  he  sells  silks  ;  but  some  one 
has  to  sell  silks,  even  in  that  metropolis,  and  Mr. 
Meade  was  unfortunately  selected  to  follow  that  calling 
Doubtless  if  he  had  i*ot  become  engrossed  with  gios 
grains  at  an  early  age  he  might  have  developed  into 
a  professor  of  the  South  Sea  languages,  or  might  have 
lectured  upon  ethics  at  Treinont  Temple  ;  but  having 
fallen  when  a  mere  boy  from  this  high,  though  com 
mon,  destiny  into  the  silk  trade,  there  he  remained, 
and  at  the  end  of  twenty-five  years  considered  himself 
financially  compensated  for  his  intellectual  abasement. 
There,  too,  Margaret  agreed  with  him,  and  kindly  con 
sented  to  share  his  fortune  while  maintaining  her  own 
high  scholarship.  She  read  Herbert  Spencer,  but  ac 
knowledged  that  even  a  fine  mind  might  be  more  at 
home  in  a  lower  atmosphere,  like  that  surrounding  her 
worthy  lover. 

Halstead  retailed  these  facts  to  Rachel,  detaining  her 
upon  the  rocks  for  that  purpose. 

"  They  have  been  engaged,"  he  added,  with  amiable 
ridicule,  "  for  seven  years." 

"  So  long  as  that  ?  "  said  Rachel. 

"  "Well,  thereabouts." 

"•  It  is  n't  possible  !  "  disclaimed  the  girl. 

"Not  possible?  Why  not?  Why  should  n't  two 
persons  who  love  each  other  be  engaged  for  seven 
years,  or  for  seven  times  seven  years  ?  Don't  you 
think  it  indicates  great  sincerity  and  great  — warmth  ?  " 


126  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Rachel  looking  after  them. 

"  Perhaps  you  wonder  that  they  did  n't  break  it  off 
long  ago." 

"  Oh,  no,  not  that." 

"  That  is  the  usual  way." 

"  I  don't  believe  it,"  she  declared,  smiling  incredu 
lously. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  he  went  on  in  a  light  but  caressing 
tone,  "  that  you  don't  know  much  about  that  rich  and 
varied  association  that  admits  of  many  repetitions,  of 
many  repairs  and  breakages ;  which  is  made  up  of 
heart-burnings,  smiles,  pangs,  festivities,  and  a  good-by, 
love,  we  part  never  to  meet  again." 

"  I  am  afraid  I  don't,"  assented  Rachel,  feeling  in 
her  heart  a  delicious  freshness  of  susceptibility. 

"  Pshaw  !  "  pursued  Halstead,  still  in  the  same  gen 
tle  and  mocking  vein.  "  At  your  age  you  should  have 
had  more  experience.  You  should  be  sharper,  more 
world-hardened.  You  should  powder  ;  you  should  have 
a  box  or  two  of  sweet-scented  letters  laid  away.  You 
should  sigh  and  tap  your  fan  ;  and  you  should  have 
a  few  cynicisms  to  air  occasionally." 

"  I  might  attain  those  perfections,"  she  said  lightly  ; 
"  they  seem  easy." 

"  Then  I  would  understand  you.  I  would  be  used 
to  you.  I  would  know  what  to  do,"  he  cried.  "  As  it 
is  I  am  afraid  of  you." 

The  fire  which  the  boys  had  made  roared  and 
crackled,  sending  thousands  of  spruce  needles  toward 
the  zenith  in  an  ecstasy  of  flame  ;  and  Joe  Anderson 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  127 

was  dispatched  to  the  bank  to  summon  the  purtiea 
there  to  the  repast  then  ready 

"  I  have  n't  seen  anything  to  equal  this  since  I  left 
the  army,"  said  Mr.  Sterling,  as  they  gathered  about 
the  table.  "  It  reminds  me  of  some  nights  in  the 
Cumberlands,  —  the  heat-lightning  and  all.  The  air 
is  full  of  it.  When  we  went  down  "  —  He  paused, 
raised  his  flexible,  quizzing  eyebrows,  and  looked  at 
his  wife. 

"  Go  on,"  she  said,  "  our  friends  are  lenient,  and  I 
am  used  to  it." 

"  She  don't  permit  it,"  he  explained,  shaking  his 
head.  "  I  know  better." 

"  Those  stories  once  begun,  last  a  day  and  a  night, 
you  know,"  returned  his  wife.  "  If  you  will  kindly 
abbreviate." 

"  I  have  abbreviated,"  he  replied.  "  Where  are 
your  sandwiches  ?  " 

Mr.  Sterling  was  tall,  slow-stepping,  robust.  "  He 
was  a  lawyer,  able  and  successful,  not  because  he  was 
particularly  astute,  but  because  he  was  large-hearted 
and  jovial,  and  difficulties  seemed  to  resolve  them 
selves  into  justice,  or  into  nothingness,  in  passing 
through  his  mind.  Socially  he  aided  and  abetted  his 
wife ;  indeed  he  aided  and  abetted  everybody.  In  his 
presence  no  uneasy  gaps  yawned  in  the  conversation  ; 
and  if,  on  the  present  occasion,  Halstead  lay  in  com 
parative  silence,  watching  the  almost  impalpable  agita 
tion  of  the  lake,  it  made  much  less  difference  in  the 
general  tone  than  might  be  expected. 


128  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

When  the  supper  was  over  and  the  cigars  finished, 
the  confused  preparations  for  descent  at  once  began. 
The  fire  died  away.  The  heat-lightning  played  more 
and  more  brightly,  and  the  ghosts  of  departed  Narra- 
gansetts  gathered  around  the  encampment. 

The  boys  started  down.  Mr.  Meade  and  Margaret 
Duncan  started  down.  The  delicious  evening  was  al 
most  over.  The  summer  lightning  flashed  across  the 
pool.  It  was  growing  dark.  It  was  growing  rapidly 
dark,  and  clouds  were  scudding  across  the  sky. 

Rachel  stooped  to  pick  up  her  alpine  stock,  and 
when  she  rose  Halstead  was  standing  by  her  side. 
He  pushed  back  some  faintly-pungent  spruce  boughs 
and  took  a  few  steps  forward.  "  Where  is  your  hat  ?  " 
he  asked,  halting,  and  barring  the  path. 

"In  the  wood-chopper's  hut." 

"  In  the  hut  ?  "  he  repeated. 

"  We  will  get  it  on  the  way." 

"  On  the  way,"  he  echoed,  absently.  "^Have  you 
everything  else  ?  "  She  assured  him  she  had  every 
thing  else,  but  he  did  not  move.  He  stood  looking 
about  him  in  a  dazed  sort  of  fashion,  while  the  sound 
of  voices  and  retreating  footsteps  grew  fainter  and 
fainter.  A  wind  sprang  up  somewhere  from  the  treas 
ury  of  winds,  and  the  trees  upon  the  shore  waved  in 
the  solitude. 

"  There  will  be  a  storm,"  he  observed  mechanically, 
after  a  time.  And  then  the  silence  closed  about  them. 
The  voices  and  the  footsteps  were  gone. 

"  It  is  coming  fast,"  said  the  girl  in  the  same  ac 
cents. 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  129 

"  How  it  lightens,"  he  exclaimed  with  a  white  face. 
A.nd  a  flash  broke  over  them. 

;'  Rachel,"  he  cried,  in  the  tone  he  would  have  used 
had  he  sworn  he  could  not  live  without  her.  "  Do 
you  like  to  see  it  lighten  ?  " 

All  about  them  were  the  branches  of  a  fallen  spruce, 
and  she  leaned  against  one  of  them  as  if  for  support. 
They  were  alone  upon  the  mountain. 

•'  Rachel,"  he  whispered,  "  Rachel ! "  And  still  he 
did  not  look  at  her.  He  seemed  to  be  gathering  pas 
sion  from  the  vivid  light. 

"  To  whit !  to  who  !  "  screamed  a  distant  owl. 

Rachel's  heart-beats  were  almost  audible.  They 
seemed  to  be  again  at  the  station  near  the  coil  of  ropes, 
and  she  began  to  tremble  as  at  the  sequel  of  that  time. 
The  wind  died  away.  The  desert  came  near  to  listen. 
It  was  strangely  still.  It  continued  strangely  still. 

Halstead  began  to  walk  up  and  down  the  path  as  if 
to  bring  his  thoughts  to  the  relief  of  his  agitation. 

"  Rachel !  "  he  cried  again,  "  this  is  a  grand  mount 
ain.  Do  you  like  the  lightning  ?  Does  it  meander 
through  your  veins  ?  It  will  be  a  grand  storm,  —  will 
you  like  to  watch  it  with  me  ?  " 

Blindly  she  picked  up  her  stick  which  had  fallen 
from  her  hand. 

"  Don't  go,  Rachel,"  he  said,  his  head  held  high,  his 
forehead  frowning,  his  white  lips  smiling.  "  Let  us 
stay,  Rachel." 

She  started  forward  but  he  threw  himself  in  her 
way.  prone  upon  the  ground,  murmuring  words  unin- 
9 


130  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

telligible  to  her  ears.  She  did  not  stay  to  comfort 
him.  She  grew  paler,  and  suddenly  darted  down  the 
path. 

Presently  he  shook  himself,  rose,  got  her  hat,  and 
started  down  the  road,  wondering  that  she  should  have 
flown  so  rapidly.  Then  he  broke  into  a  run,  and  still 
he  did  not  overtake  her.  lie  thought  of  calling  her, 
but  the  rest  of  the  party,  now  not  far  in  advance, 
would  hear  him,  and  he  would  hate  that.  It  would 
make  a  beastly  racket.  In  a  moment  a  streak  of  light 
ning  revealed  the  hurrying  company  of  his  friends,  but 
no  Rachel  Guerrin,  and  turning  he  ran  up  the  moun 
tain  as  rapidly  as  he  had  run  down.  It  could  not  be 
helped,  so  he  began  to  halloo  in  very  different  accents 
from  those  he  employed  among  the  spruce  branches, 
but  the  rising  wind  derided  his  feeble  shouts.  He  was 
at  his  wit's  end  when  he  heard  an  answer  coming 
from  down  the  mountain.  He  rushed  for  the  ox- 
path  again,  and  a  few  minutes  later  a  hand  was  laid 
upon  him,  and  Dayton  sharply  inquired  what  had  be 
come  of  Miss  Guerrin. 

He  sharply  replied  that  that  was  what  he  was  trying 
to  find  out.  That  she  had  started  down  before  him, 
and  had  he,  Dayton,  seen  anything  of  her  ? 

The  party  ahead  had  heard  his  hallooing.  "  Some 
thing  may  have  happened,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling  ;  "  do 
please  somebody  see  about  it,"  —  and  Dajton,  pleas 
ing,  was  already  gone. 

He  looked  closely  at  Halstead  for  a  moment  when 
he  heard  his  reply,  then  turning  on  his  heel,  struck 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  131 

into  the  woods,  taking  an  oblique  direction  downward, 
And  making  his  way  among  the  bending  trees  and  along 
the  uncertain  ground  till  he  came  out  upon  some  cleared 
sheep  lands,  dotted  with  rocks  and  extending  far  and 
wide.  It  did  him  good  to  shout.  He  had  no  scruples 
against  a  beastly  racket. 

In  a  little  while  he  struck  a  path  which  he  began  to 
ascend,  the  summer  lightning  playing  in  white  sheets 
about  him,  and  flashing  over  the  blown  and  desolate 
pastures  ;  and  shortly  at  a  distance  he  saw  a  figure 
moving. 

"  Is  that  you,  Mr.  Dayton  ?  "  asked  Rachel,  as  he 
came  up. 

He  noted  an  excitement  which  was  not  fear  in  her 
manner,  and  looking  past  her  across  the  valley  he 
seemed  to  observe  there  the  same  peculiarity  in  nature 
which  King  David  recorded  long  ago  in  the  words  : 
"  Why  hop  ye  so,  ye  high  hills  ?  "  or  "  What  ails  ye, 
ye  mountains  that  ye  skip  like  rams  ;  and  ye  little  hills 
like  lambs  ?  " 

"  Do  you  know  just  where  we  are  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Not  exactly.     I  started  wrong." 

"  It  will  be  safe  enough  to  go  down  by  this  path,  I 
take  it,"  he  observed  practically.  "  It  can't  take  us 
far  out  of  our  course.  Can  you  follow  ?  " 

Near  the  lower  border  of  the  pasture  there  was  an 
oLl  and  empty  sheep-fold  and  toward  this  he  directed 
their  hurrying  steps,  but  before  they  reached  it  the 
rain  began  to  fall. 

"  This  is  too  poor  a  place  for  you,"  he  said,  "  but  it 
is  better  than  the  inhospitality  outside." 


Lo2  AN  EARNEST   TBIFLER. 

He  threw  down  some  corn  stalks  for  her  to  sit  upon, 
then  went  back  and  walked  up  and  down  in  the  rain, 
like  a  picket  guarding  the  entrance  way. 

Presently  Rachel  came  out  and  touched  him  lightly 
on  the  arm.  "  I  must  insist  upon  going  home,"  she 
said.  "  I  am  no  more  afraid  of  the  rain  than  you. 
What  I  object  to  is  keeping  dry  while  the  drops  driz 
zle  off  your  hat.  Let  us  go  on." 

"  Oh,  I  am  comfortable,"  he  answered.  "  I  am  di 
vinely  comfortable.  I  have  n't  been  so  comfortable 
for  weeks.  My  discomforts  are  not  of  the  weather. 
I  am  very  tough." 

"  So  am  I,  and  I  am  going.'* 

"You  cannot  very  well,  alone,"  he  said,  drawing  her 
back  under  the  roof.  Then,  muttering  something  about 
finding  the  path,  he  disappeared. 

When  he  returned  the  clouds  had  broken,  the  rain 
had  ceased,  and  the  lights  of  the  house  were  visible  not 
far  away. 

They  descended  the  intervening  fields,  passed  through 
an  old  sugar-camp,  whose  troughs  stood  full  of  water, 
struck  the  road,  and  had  nearly  reached  Mrs.  Ander 
son's  when  a  man  rose  from  somewhere  near  the  gate. 
He  was  not  a  pleasant  object  as  he  came  slouching 
near  ;  but,  recognizing  Dayton,  he  stopped  irresolutely 
and  took  off  his  hat.  He  was  an  immense  fellow  in 
stature,  lank,  angular,  and  with  a  beard  like  a  Norse 
man. 

"  Well,  Braut,"  said  Dayton,  "  what  can  I  do  for 
you?" 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  133 

"  I  ain't  got  nothing  agin  you  "  said  the  man  sul 
lenly,  putting  on  his  hat  again,  and  looking  vaguely 
and  uneasily  about  him. 

"  I  know  you  are  in  trouble,"  said  Dayton.  "  What 
can  I  do  for  you  ?  I  heard  you  left  to-day." 

"  Yes,  sir.  I  can't  stay  no  longer.  I  wanted  to 
see  them  as  saw  her  last.  Mebbe  the  lady,  sir,  was 
one  of  them  ?  " 

"  I  ?  "  said  Rachel,  thus  strangely  appealed  to. 

"  I  had  a  daughter,"  the  man  went  on,  a  little  wildly, 
"  the  same  that  made  the  figgers.  She  war  n't  much 
bigger  nor  they,  an'  when  I  left  she  war  as  cold.  She 
war  drownded,  in  the  river  there." 

"  I  heard  of  it  to-day,"  said  Rachel,  recalling  a  ru 
mor  that  had  floated  to  the  village  from  the  lower  sta 
tion.  "  I  was  very  sorry  for  her." 

"  I  war  a  youngster,"  the  man  rambled  on,  "  when  she 
war  born,  an'  I  allus  took  her  round  with  me.  I  had 
nowheres  to  leave  her,  an'  she  war  a  quiet  little  thing, 
—  quiet  till  that  fellow  got  to  showin'  her  about  them 
figgers,  and  then  there  warn't  any  more  quietness  in 
her.  She  went  in  an'  out,  an'  in  an'  out,  an'  them 
sparks  came  in  her  eyes,  an'  she  put  a  ribbin  in  her 
hair.  An'  I  keep  a  thinkin'  mebbe  she  did  n't  drownd 
quite  accidental  like.  Nobody  knows,  unless  it 's  some 
of  you.  It  war  in  the  night,  an'  she  'd  been  over  the 
bridge  to  look  at  you.  I  war  sleepin'  heavy  as  if  she 
could  take  care  of  herself  like  a  water-rat  an'  she  waj 
drownding.  There  warn't  no  harm  in  her,  an'  I  could 
n't  rightly  find  that  there  war  harm  in  him,  but  when 


134  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

he  came  smiling  round  she  war  taken  with  him.  As  I 
might  a'  knowed.  An'  is  he  here  ?  "  he  added,  a  sulJen 
fire  breaking  through  his  grief. 

"  No,  he  is  n't  here,"  answered  Dayton. 

"  I  don't  wish  him  no  luck,"  cried  the  man,  pulling 
at  his  sandy  beard,  and  again  looking  vaguely  and  un 
easily  about  him. 

"  Look  here,  Braut,"  said  Dayton  steadily,  "  I'll 
answer  for  him.  He  would  no  more  do  harm  to  you 
or  yours  than  I  would.  If  he  has  done  it  he  does  not 
know  it.  He  would  not  mean  it.  He  intended  to  do 
good.  It  is  his  misfortune  to  be  too  clever." 

"  I  don't  wish  him  no  luck,"  repeated  the  fellow  dog 
gedly.  "  There  ain't  no  such  innocence.  He  meddled 
with  what  war  nothiii'  to  him.  He  'd  'a  been  in  bet 
ter  business  to  'a  let  her  be.  I  ain't  got  nothin  ag'in 
you,  sir,  but  I  don't  wish  him  no  luck." 

Dayton  drew  Rachel  toward  the  gate  which  he 
closed  behind  her ;  and  then  he  went  back  where  the 
fellow  still  stood  shaking  his  head  menacingly  and  with 
a  vague  desire  to  avenge  upon  some  one  the  calamity 
which  had  befallen  him. 

She  went  mechanically  to  the  house,  and  when  she 
looked  back  they  had  disappeared. 

Presently  Halstead  came  wandering  in  from  the  re 
gions  back  on  the  mountains,  and  her  explanations  had 
to  be  gone  over  again.  He  seemed  in  no  degree  sur 
prised  to  find  her  already  there. 

"  I  have  felt  all  the  time  that  I  was  floundering 
about  without  the  shadow  of  a  chance,"  he  replied 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  135 

unable  wholly  to  suppress  his  discomfiture.  "  When 
Dayton  starts  off  like  that  he  gets  what  he  goes  for.  I 
Bavv  him  do  it  once  before  when  there  was  a  strike  on 
the  road  ;  and  when  he  came  back  he  brought  three 
hundred  men.  Did  he  pick  you  up  on  a  fork  of  light 
ning  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  how  he  did  it,"  said  Rachel,  "  but 
here  I  am." 

'•  And  where  is  he  ?  " 

"  There  was  a  man  at  the  gate,"  said  Rachel  briefly. 
"  He  stopped  to  speak  to  him." 

"  He  was  a  terrible  looking  fellow,"  said  Mrs. 
Sterling ;  "  he  was  here  a  few  minutes  ago  asking  for 
you  ?  " 

"  For  me  1 " 

"  He  looked  like  a  tramp.  I  think  he  had  been 
drinking.  He  would  n't  tell  what  he  wanted.  I 
thought  he  would  never  go,  but  suddenly  away  he 
bolted." 

"  He  said  his  name  was  Braut,"  said  Mr.  Sterling, 
— "  probably  one  of  the  road  haads." 

"  Braut  ?  "  repeated  Halstead.  "  Braut,  was  it  ? 
He  probably  wanted  help.  I  hope  Dayton  will  do 
something  for  him."  , 

"  Who  is  he  ?  "  inquired  his  sister. 

"  One  of  the  hands  down  at  the  bridge.  It  is  a  very 
sad  case.  He  stuck  his  shovel  in  the  ground  to-day 
and  left  for  parts  unknown.  They  lived  in  one  of  the 
freight-cars  you  saw  down  there,  he  and  his  daughter, 
who  was  drowned  a  day  or  two  ago.  They  say  he  took 
her  loss  hard." 


136  AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  I  saw  her,"  cried  Louise,  suddenly  starting  up. 

"  You  !     When  ?  "  exclaimed  Halstead. 

"  The  night  we  were  down  there.  Just  before  we 
came  home." 

Halstead  instinctively  raised  his  head  as  if  he  had 
been  unjustly  accused.  "  Is  that  so  ?  "  he  said.  "  What 
was  she  doing  ?  " 

"  Nothing." 

«  What  did  sbo  say  ?  " 

"  She  showed  me  some  images  she  had  made,"  said 
Louise,  concisely. 

"  Her  bucket  of  clay  is  drying  up,"  said  Halstead 
calmly,  as  one  who  would  freely  tell  all  he  knew. 
"  She  was  the  kind  of  a  waif  you  read  about  but  never 
see  in  this  country,  —  an  artistic  waif,  —  artistic,  plas 
tic,  tragic.  I  saw  her  when  I  first  went  down  there 
dabbling  in  a  clay  bank  with  a  plaster  Holy  Mother 
in  her  hand.  Think  of  a  poor,  plain,  and  arid  little 
being  such  as  she  with  vague  Teachings  out  toward  art 
as  if  she  would  climb  by  it !  And  she  did  n't  even 
know  its  name  !  Art  ?  she  said.  What  is  art  ?  I 
could  n't  tell  her,  but  I  gave  her  some  suggestions 
about  her  models.  I  am  sorry  for  her  father.  They 
eay  he  takes  her  loss  hard.  I  hope  Dayton  will  do 
something  for  him.  I  believe  I  '11  go  and  find  them." 

For  him  the  subject  of  Margot  was  closed.  He  had 
nothing  to  reproach  himself  with.  He  had  been  very 
scrupulous. 

As  he  started  out,  Rachel  ran  after  him.  "  Don't 
go,"  she  said  excitedly  ;  "  please  don't  go.  You  can 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  137 

do  no  good.  It  will  only  make  it  worse.  He  was  n't 
looking  for  you  for  any  good  " — 

Nathan  straightened  himself  and  looked  down  upon 
her. 

"  Now,  I  must  go,"  he  said.  "  Do  you  think  me  a 
coward,  or  what  do  you  think  me  ?  " 

She  gazed  after  him  a  moment  as  he  went  down  the 
path,  with  his  confident  erectness,  and  his  irreproach 
able  rectitude,  then  turning,  went  back  into  the  hall. 

Mrs.  Sterling,  who  was  bustling  about  to  restore  the 
comfort  of  their  shattered  party,  bethought  herself  of 
Eachel's  wet  feet  and  drabbled  skirts.  "  You  must  go 
to  my  room  right  away,  my  dear,  and  dry  them,"  she 
said,  "  while  I  have  another  fire  made  down  here.  I 
never  allow  anybody  about  me  to  take  cold.  I  never 
have  a  cold  myself.  It  is  because  I  avoid  draughts 
and  dampness.  And  your  shoes  are  thin,  too.  You 
wear  very  pretty  shoes,  my  dear.  My  room  is  on  the 
right.  Louise  and  Margaret  are  both  there.  Louise 
just  went  up." 

Rachel,  nothing  loath,  went  up-stairs,  but  Louise  and 
Margaret  were  not  there.  There  was  no  one  there, 
and  instead  of  going  to  the  freshly  kindled  fire  she  sat 
down  on  a  stool  near  the  window  and  buried  her  fa^e 
in  her  hands.  She  felt  crushed,  humiliated,  she  scarcely 
knew  why  ;  and  there  was  a  cessation  in  her  desire 
for  worldly  experience.  She  seemed  benumbed.  Sho 
could  not  cry.  She  could  not  think. 

She  took  no  note  of  time,  but  presently  her  hands 
were  quietly  removed  and  Louise  stood  before  her,  tall 


138  AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

aud  fair,  but  with  something  fierce  in  the  place  of  her 
former  languor. 

"  And  you,  too  !  "  she  said,  with  a  sort  of  light  scorn. 
"  Oh,  we  all  listen,  and  we  all  bury  our  faces  in  our 
hands  like  that.  You  are  only  one.  I  do  it,  that  little 
Braut  ghost  did  it,  and  now  you.  You  are  only  one. 
We  are  of  all  classes  and  conditions.  And  your  hands 
don't  cover  any  more  happiness  than  ours.  He  is  com 
plicated,  you  know,  —  complicated.  He  has  no  sim 
plicity  of  heart,  no  singleness  of  mind.  He  wants  and 
he  does  not  want.  He  holds  loosely.  He  woos  idly. 
But  I  hope  you  don't  think  there  is  any  evil  in  him  ? 
He  is  fine,  refined,  superfine.  Nothing  would  induce 
him  to  be  other  than  a  gentleman.  You  need  never 
fear  that.  You  are  not  hiding  your  face  because  you, 
for  one  moment,  suspect  him,  but  because  you  yourself 
are  disappointed,  shabbily,  miserably  disappointed." 

"  Yes,"  said  Rachel,  allowing  her  passive  hands  to 
be  held  by  the  older  woman,  "  I  believe  I  am  disap 
pointed." 

"I  knew  you  would  be  when  we  left  you  on  the 
mountain,"  pursued  Louise.  "  All  your  pleasant  ways 
for  weeks  have  led  to  the  supreme,  the  critical  moment ; 
and  when,  to-night,  you  reached  it,  it  was  still  and  dry. 
He  may  love  you  in  his  way,  but  he  will  never  ask  you 
to  marry  him.  It  is  n't  in  him.  He  is  n't  made  of 
that  simple  stuff.  If  you  are  wise  you  will  take  your 
bands  down  and  never  put  them  up  again  on  Nathan 
Halstead's  account.  The  raptures  of  that  fine  young 
man  are  as  fluent  as  his  phrases.  Come,  what  did  he 
do  ?  What  did  he  say  to  you  ?  " 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  139 

"  I  don't  know,"  she  answered  helplessly ;  then  she 
caught  something  of  the  light  scorn  of  her  companion 
and  added,  "  He  said  something  touching  to  my  shoe 
buttons." 

"  Oh,  there  are  hopes  of  you,"  cried  Louise,  hall 
wrapping  herself  in  the  scant  chintz  curtains  and  Jean- 
ing  her  head  against  the  casement.  "You  are  not 
taking  it  so  seriously  as  I  supposed ;  not  so  seriously 
as  I  did.  Did  you  wonder  why  I  came  here  ?  You 
know  now.  You  may  as  well  know.  I  don't  tell  you 
because  I  expect  you  to  make  any  concessions  to  me. 
I  expect  you  to  do  your  best  for  yourself,  but  your 
best  won't  be  good  enough.  It  won't  interfere  with 
me.  I  don't  expect  him  to  love  me,  but,  my  child,  I 
have  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  He  thinks 
now  that  he  does  not  care  for  money,  but  I  don't 
believe  it.  I  keep  mine  before  him  and  it  has  its  ef 
fect.  I  can  see  that  it  has  its  effect.  He  is  prudent, 
prudent,  prudent.  His  prudence  is  deepest  of  all.  He 
is  a  rich  man  now.  He  acts  and  feels  like  a  rich 
man  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  money  belongs  to  me  gives 
him  none  the  less  sublime  a  sense  of  unobtrusive 
wealth.  Do  you  think  all  this  hideous  ?  Perhaps  it  ia. 
I  don't  know  why  I  tell  you,  but  you  seemed  so  se 
cure  ;  as  if  no  one  had  been  before  you  and  no  one 
would  come  after.  I  have  been  before  you  and  I  will 
come  after  you.  He  has  but  one  rose-bush  for  us  all, 
and  he  lets  us  sit  by  it  in  happy  summer  rotation, 
while  he  treats  us  like  a  priest  and  talks  to  us  like  a 
lover ;  but  when  it  comes  to  marriage,  it  won't  depend 


140  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

upon  the  lengths  of  our  eyelashes  or  the  outlines  of 
our  chins.  You  are  pretty.  It  has  been  terrible  to 
me  to  see  how  pretty  you  were,  but  for  all  that  you 
can  be  unhappy.  If  I  did  not  love  him  I  would  hate 
him,  but  I  love  him  and  I  can't  change.  I  have  only 
one  idea.  I  never  had  but  one.  Most  of  my  life  I 
had  n't  any.  If  you  have  one  I  advise  you  to  get  rid 
of  it.  This  is  no  place  for  fixed  ideas.  They  grow 
tedious  as  mine  is  tedious.  Heavens  how  tedious  it 
is.  I  myself  seem  tedious.  Everything  is  tedious,  te 
dious,  when  one  waits." 

Louise  leaned  out  the  window  as  if  she  would  find 
relief  in  the  cooling  rain,  and  for  the  moment  seemed 
to  have  forgotten  in  her  own  vehemence  the  more  mod 
erate  infelicities  of  the  younger  girl. 

"  Does  he  know  it?  "  asked  the  latter  with  solicitude. 

"  Know  it !  "  said  Louise.  "  He  could  repeat  it 
word  for  word.  He  has  it  set  to  music.  I  have  heard 
him  humming  it." 

"  What  are  you  trying  to  do  ?  "  cried  Rachel.  "  To 
put  him  in  a  shape  that  no  one  would  look  at  ?  How 
do  you  know  that  all  you  have  been  saying  is  true  ?  Do 
you  suppose  he  means  nothing  that  he  says,  and  that 
he  makes  up  the  manners  and  the  very  tones  of  feel 
ing  ?  We  overreach  our  mark  and  accuse  him  of  what 
nobody  could  do.  We  might  at  least  have  the  grace 
to  wait.  We  call  ourselves  his  friends,  yet  hear  us  ! 
Hear  his  friends  !  " 

"  I  am  sure  he  means  what  he  says,  —  to  your  shoe- 
buttons,"  answered  Louise.  "  Perhaps  he  swore  by 
them.  He  may  have  said,  By  thy  buttons  I  love  thee." 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  141 

Rachel  had  no  response.  She  looked  for  a  moment 
out  the  window.  There  were  two  figures  coming  up 
the  walk.  "  It  seems  to  me,"  she  said,  "  that  those 
who  abhor  him  might  praise  him  more." 

"  And  did  you  think  him  perfect  ?  "  asked  Louise  n 
pity  of  such  inexperience. 

'I  thought  him  charming,"  said  Rachel.  "I  am 
not  sure  1  thought  him  anything  else." 

''  He  is  nothing  else,  but  that  is  too  considerable. 
What  else  ?  Your  needs  must  be  very  great.  If  he 
were  but  half  as  charming  only  one  of  us  need  sicken 
for  him." 

"  Do  I  look  sick  ?  "  inquired  the  younger  girl  lifting 
her  face. 

Louise  rose  and  turned  up  the  light.  "  You  look 
bright,  —  over-bright  about  the  eyes,"  she  said.  "Your 
symptoms  are  very  bad." 

"  They  will  lead  to  nothing,  —  like  signs  in  dry 
weather,"  returned  Rachel.  She  rose  and  smoothed 
her  hair  as  if  to  descend  ;  but  the  disorder  of  the  even 
ing  was  not  to  be  at  once  subdued. 

"  And  your  wet  feet !  "  said  Louise !  They  had  for 
gotten  all  about  her  feet  except  as  the  salient  at 
which  Halstead  had  thrown  himself  down. 

"It  makes  no  difference,"  she  replied ;  "we  must  go 
home."  And  she  began  once  more  to  repair  her  toilet. 

Louise  wrapped  a  blue  shawl  about  her  and  stood 
back  a  step.  "  You  don't  look  just  right  yet,"  she  said, 
"  not  as  if  we  had  been  talking  about  preventives  for 
oolds.  Can't  you  put  on  a  little  dullness? "  And  bend- 


142  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

ing  over  she  kissed  her,  adding,  "That  is  for  dull 
ness  ! " 

At  the  door  Rachel  stopped  and  turned.  "  I  can  t 
help  feeling,"  she  said,  "that  you  will  have  use  for 
your  fortune." 

"  But  when  !  but  when  !  "  returned  Louise.  "  Please 
say  that  I  won't  be  down  again  to-night.  Say  I  am 
not  well,  —  say  anything  you  choose  except  the  truth." 

Halstead  and  Dayton  were  both  in  the  parlor,  and 
both  of  them  wet  and  silent.  The  neat  and  chilly  fire- 
board  had  been  taken  out,  and  some  pine  sticks  burned 
cheerfully  upon  the  hearth  ;  but,  though  everything  had 
been  done  for  their  delectation,  it  seemed  impossible  to 
restore  the  broken  harmony  of  the  evening,  at  least  as 
far  as  concerned  these  gentlemen.  When  Rachel  came 
in  with  her  wraps  on  they  both  immediately  got  their 
hats. 

"  Come  and  let  us  look  at  you,  my  dear,"  said  Mrs. 
Sterling.  "  Where  is  Louise  ?  " 

"  She  is  not  feeling  well,"  Rachel  answered. 

"  Are  you  quite  sure  that  you  are  ?  "  inquired  that 
lady  looking  at  her  critically. 

"  I  am  always  feeling  well,"  she  declared. 

"  It  is  raining  a  little  again,"  said  Margaret.  "  I 
wonder  where  the  umbrellas  are !  You  will  want  one 
to  go  to  the  carriage." 

"  Umbrellas,  dear  Margaret,  are  always  a  source  of 
Bonder,"  remarked  Nathan  from  the  mantel-piece. 


XIII. 

IT  was  about  this  time  that  there  was  a  meeting  in 
Boston  of  the  directors  and  bondholders  of  this  great 
railway,  which  was  so  largely  to  enhance  the  pros 
perity  of  New  England,  when  Nathan  Halstead,  who 
waited  upon  them  to  submit  some  reports,  rather  dis» 
tinguished  himself.  The  office  in  which  the  meeting 
was  held  was  a  crimson  and  oak  apartment,  on  a  scale 
of  magnificence  everywhere  demanded  by  the  truly 
railroad  mind ;  and  there  were  present  about  a  score 
of  the  very  large  and  very  small  men,  who  by  some 
strange  correlation  seem  best  fitted  to  conduct  the 
very  large  railroad  schemes  made  public,  and  the  very 
fine  railroad  schemes  kept  private.  There  was  the 
tall  and  portly  gentleman  who  seemed  to  have  grown 
big  with  his  own  extraordinary  projects,  whose  idea  of 
true  greatness  involved  the  handling  of  millions  upon 
millions,  whose  family  lived  upon  a  Parisian  boulevard 
and  who  frequently  went  across  himself ;  and  there 
was  the  small,  lean  banker,  grown  thin  with  shrewd 
ness,  who  frequently  coughed  behind  a  first  mortgage 
trust  deed,  and  of  whom  there  was  not  much  left  but 
assets.  There  was  the  dignitary  who  had  influence 
with  senators,  who  carried  members  of  the  House  in 
his  wallet,  and  who  of  late  years  had  found  it  difficult 
to  cross  his  legs ;  and  there  was  the  sha'p  and  meagre 
rail-road  king  who  was  always  urging  that  abstruse 


144  AN   EARNEST    TBIFLER. 

operation,  to  which  is  given  the  salubrious  name  of 
watering.  They  were  all  men  of  substance  and  of  high, 
high  standards,  particularly  as  regards  the  great  sub 
jects  of  personalty  and  realty,  and  as  such  Halstead 
regarded  them  witli  deep  respect,  —  respect  enhanced 
by  the  confidence  reposed  in  his  own  discretion. 

He  did  not  think  that  he  himself  was  destined  ever 
to  become  that  golden  object,  a  moneyed  man.  "  I 
have  no  grasp,"  he  said.  "  I  have  no  grasp,"  —  and 
for  the  moment  his  regret  was  tempered  by  this  snug 
discovery  of  what  he  lacked,  —  but  it  pleased  him  to 
see  how  money  was  made  in  splendid  sums  ;  how  trans 
mitted,  and  how  retained  in  quantities  that  told  upon 
the  stock  exchange.  He  liked  to  sit  in  a  crimson 
chair  among  railway  grandees,  and  look  down  upon 
the  noisy  street  with  its  throng  of  citizens,  each  hurry 
ing  to  reach  some  one  of  the  thousand  doors  through 
which  the  flying  hours  escape,  —  half-attentive  to  what 
went  on  within  the  room,  half  to  what  went  on  with 
out,  and  half  to  his  own  reflections  (he  had  more 
halves  than  most  men,  had  Nathan  Halstead),  but  it 
chanced  on  this  occasion  that  his  own  affairs  were  by 
far  the  most  engrossing. 

The  night  was  warm,  the  business  dry.  His  mind 
had  entirely  gone,  both  from  the  scenes  without  and 
within  ;  his  study  had  assumed  the  hue  called  browr, 
and  his  attention  was  fixed  upon  the  conflict  now  al 
most  chronic  in  the  arena  of  his  bosom,  when  one  of 
the  rotund  gentlemen  called  upon  him  in  a  familiar 
way  to  send  some  telegrams  on  behalf  of  the  company 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  145 

He  rose  with  a  promptness,  rather  physical  than  men 
tal,  crossed  the  crimson  floor,  stepped  into  the  hall, 
closed  the  oaken  door  behind  him,  turned  the  key,  and 
dropping  it  into  his  unconscious  pocket  descended  to 
the  street. 

He  felt  he  must  see  Rachel  Guerrin  again,  but 
for  what  ?  His  voluminous  purposes  were  narrowing 
ominously.  He  scarcely  dared  go  back  to  the  mount 
ains.  He  must  go  back.  He  longed  to  store  her  un 
furnished  life  with  gay  experiences,  her  roomy  heart 
with  intense  affections.  He  thought  it  a  pity,  an  intol 
erable  pity  that  her  radiance  should  be  fanned  and  con 
sumed  by  idle,  country  breezes  only,  such  as  drank  up 
springs,  rotted  cabbages,  and  wafted  dandelions  into 
glory.  He  wondered  as  he  walked  along  how  she  would 
appear  in  Boston.  He  thought  he  would  like  by  chance 
to  see  her  on  a  flagstone  pavement,  shading  her  tulip 
freshness  under  an  umbrageous  parasol ;  and  he  would 
like  to  touch  his  hat  to  her,  making  meanwhile  his 
mental  comments  as  he  did  upon  other  women  whom  he 
passed.  It  might  be  that  his  judgment  was  a  little  blind, 
and  that  however  beautiful  and  even  tasteful  she  might 
seem  among  her  native  hills,  the  invidious  lights  of 
Boston  might  disclose  some  fatal  lapse  of  form.  Of 
all  the  women  he  had  ever  known  he  thought  her  the 
most  difficult  to  treat  with  satisfaction  to  himself. 

The  way  was  long,  affording  him  much  time  for  med 
itation.  He  could  imagine  nothing  more  enchanting 
than  to  start  with  her  on  a  tour  of  initiation,  making 
her  open  wide  her  ignorant  eyes  at  some  of  the  more 
10 


146  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

refined  among  the  spectacles  to  which  young  men  refer 
when  they  speak  of  seeing  life.  He  felt  morally  cer 
tain  that  she  was  no  more  cold  than  she  was  dull,  and 
yet  she  had  never  seemed  to  kindle  on  his  account  ex 
cept  when  he  had  become  flame  to  reach  her.  He  was 
willing  to  become  flame  for  that  purpose,  a  harmless 
light-blue  flame,  such  as  flickers  over  spirits  on  rare 
occasions,  but  was  he  willing  to  become  fire-unquench 
able,  such  as  consciously  or  unconsciously  she  seemed 
to  insist  upon  ?  And  putting  his  hands  in  his  pockets 
as  he  strode  along,  he  drew  out  a  strange  object  which 
he  did  not  remember  to  have  seen  before,  and  for  whose 
secretion  he  could  not  account.  It  recalled  him  sud 
denly.  He  never  carried  keys.  It  could  not  be  —  it 
was !  And  rushing  back  past  interminable  blocks  of 
houses,  and  through  streets  never  so  devoid  of  convey 
ances,  he  found  his  caged  lions  pacing  about  their  hand 
some  den,  having  ineffectually  moved  to  adjourn  some 
time  before. 

Halstead's  apologies  were  profuse  ;  and  though  they 
consisted  of  little  more  than  a  bow  and  the  Washing- 
tonian  confession,  "  Gentlemen,  I  did  it,"  they  seemed, 
as  all  his  apologies  did,  sufficient. 

"  There  is  some  woman  at  the  bottom  of  it,  Hal- 
stead,"  exclaimed  one  of  them,  —  the  same  whose 
family  preferred  the  Boulevard  Haussmann  to  Beacon 
Street.  "  What  young  man  keeps  his  wits  in  the  world 
where  they  are  !  " 

And  this  incident  was  all  his  friends  in  Beaudeck 
ever  heard  of  him  during  his  unaccountably  prolonged 
absence. 


XIV. 

IT  was  a  beautiful,  hopeful  Sunday  morning,  and 
even  the  grasshoppers  were  keeping  it  holy.  The  river 
flowed  with  a  light  serene ;  the  weeds  by  the  roadside 
stood  reverently  erect ;  clouds  of  yellow  butterflies 
hovered  here  and  there,  and  a  cat  prowled  softly  about 
the  premises  with  true  Sunday  sloth  and  receptivity. 
Dayton,  who,  for  the  first  time  was  spending  the  day 
alone  in  the  village,  and  who,  perhaps,  had  some  fond 
previsions  with  regard  to  it,  sat  at  his  window  as  if  he 
too  were  stricken  with  the  smiling,  shining,  hopeful 
stillness.  He  looked  down  the  road  past  the  bridge  at 
the  neat  little  rows  of-  sister  houses,  and  up  the  road 
past  the  mill,  on  whose  steps  some  broadclothed  boys 
were  swinging  their  Sabbath-breaking  legs.  Every  one 
in  Beaudeck  who  believed  in  the  God  of  Israel  wore 
broadcloth  on  Sunday.  The  town  had  a  pensive  air. 
It  seemed  to  have  its  hands  above  its  eyes  and  to  be 
looking  out  upon  the  wide-spread  summer-weather  by 
way  of  occupation. 

Dayton  was  glad  to  be  alone.  He  thought  it  strange 
lie  should  be  alone,  but  since  he  was  alone  he  gently 
stroked  the  ends  of  his  mustache,  as  if  to  keep  a  po 
tential  smile  beneath  it  from  growing  unduly  broad. 
Presently,  as  his  eyes  rested  on  the  highest  point  of 
the  north  road,  he  saw  a  team  winding  over  the  hill, 


148  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

followed  by  another,  and  another,  and  another ;  and  as 
if  in  answer  to  his  half-formed  question,  the  ladies  of 
the  household  went  down  the  walk  and  up  the  shady 
street  holding  the  skirts  of  their  black  silks  in  one 
hand,  their  parasols  in  the  other,  and  hugging  their  gilt 
hymn-books  against  their  bodies.  Then  the  idea  of 
church  dawned  upon  him. 

Dayton  rarely  went  to  church.  Within  the  past 
year  he  had  been  but  twice :  once  in  San  Francisco, 
when  he  had  gone  to  hear  a  popular  preacher,  and  had 
seemed  to  sit  somewhere  outside  in  a  silence  of  his 
own,  watching  through  dusty  spaces  the  troubled  face 
of  the  multiform  sinner;  and  once  in  New  York,  when 
he  had  strolled  to  Old  Trinity,  and  had  seemed  to  sit 
somewhere  outside  in  the  silence  with  the  strange  lights 
of  a  variegated  angel  falling  athwart  him  from  an 
expensive  window,  and  had  watched  a  great  divine 
standing  in  a  high  place  like  an  allegorical  figure  of 
Plenty,  shedding  plenty  of  wisdom  upon  the  bowed 
heads  of  his  wealthy  congregation.  But  after  both  of 
these  occasions  he  had  felt  a  strange  need  of  spiritual 
refreshment.  In  some  respects  he  acknowledged  him 
self  a  very  benighted  fellow ;  yet  when  the  sun-shades 
disappeared,  a  longing  took  possession  of  him,  and 
taking  his  hat  he  started  in  the  same  direction. 

The  church  was  very  white  and  had  very  green 
blinds,  and  as  he  entered,  not  without  fear  of  intrusion, 
the  outside  of  the  building  seemed  to  turn  inward  too, 
so  nearly  did  its  ulterior  correspond  to  its  external  as 
pect  in  whiteness  and  greenness.  He  took  a  seat  far 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER-  149 

back,  and  during  the  singing  of  the  second  psalm,  the 
congregation  rose  and  suddenly  turned,  surprising  him 
in  his  observations  ;  but  realizing,  after  some  perturba 
tion,  that  it  was,  perhaps,  a  custom  of  the  people,  and 
not  an  expression  of  general  amazement  at  his  pres 
ence,  he  too  turned,  and  gave  himself  up  to  reluctant 
contemplation  of  the  cabinet  organ.  Gradually  as  the 
services  advanced  his  first  impressions  softened.  The 
best  bonnets  appeared  to  be  sincere  and  fitting  church 
offerings  instead  of  mistaken  exhibits  of  fashion ;  and 
on  closer  acquaintance  he  rather  liked  the  primitive 
windows  and  a  mural  ornament  that  resembled  a  gi 
gantic  mantel-piece.  He  looked  at  the  fly-leaf  of  his 
hymn-book,  where  he  learned  that  it  was  to  Mary 
Adams  from  her  devoted  friend  Joseph  Bluebaker,  at  a 
somewhat  distant  date  ;  and  some  childish  hieroglyph 
ics  and  moon-faced  sketches  just  below  made  him  hope 
that  Joseph  had  not  given  it  to  Mary  in  vain. 

The  Desborough  pew  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
church,  and  Rachel  in  the  far  end  of  it,  the  open-eyed 
centre,  as  it  were,  of  this  old  time  flower  of  Calvinism, 
was  to  him  the  sole  sweet  prospect  of  a  future.  He 
tried  to  persuade  himself  that  he  had  not  read  aright 
the  signs  that  bristled  around  him.  Why,  if  prosper 
ous  in  his  love  affairs,  should  Halstead  be  away  ?  It 
was  barely  possible  that  he  was  not  prosperous. 

Pleasant  country  sounds  came  in  at  the  windows. 
A  warning  voice  slowly  rose  and  fell  beneath  tho 
vast  mantel-piece  ;  and  Dayton  again  sat  somewhere 
9utside  in  a  silence  of  his  own,  stroking  the  ends  of 


150  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

his  mustache,  as  if  to  keep  the  smile  beneath  it  from 
coming  prematurely.  He  walked  home  with  Miss 
Hannah,  and  delighted  her  with  some  kindly  though 
hazardous  remarks  about  the  sermon.  The  church  was 
her  peculiar  possession.  Did  she  not  settle  its  dissen 
sions  and  its  bills,  and  preside  at  some  of  its  services  ? 
And  beside  the  missionary  societies  to  follow  the  re 
treating  Indian,  had  she  not  instituted  a  temperance 
movement  that  spread  far  and  wide  ?  To  be  sure,  this 
field  of  usefulness  was  not  large,  as  cider-mills  were 
*he  only  things  in  disrepute  ;  but  good  work  had  been 
lone  among  them,  and  several  of  the  oldest  and  most 
reprobate  presses  had  been  turned  to  better  uses. 

It  was  her  favorite  topic,  and  she  touched  upon  it 
on  the  way.  "  We  cannot  see  now,"  she  said,  "  that 
we  make  much  progress,  but  we  keep  working.  It  is 
slow,  like  the  formation  of  rock  in  the  beds  of  rivers, 
—  very  slow.  But  we  don't  give  up.  We  are  not 
discouraged."  Even  the  geological  periods  were  but 
spans  to  Miss  Hannah's  patience. 

All  this  time  Dayton  cherished  the  idea  of  spending 
an  hour  or  two  with  Rachel  while  Halstead  was  still 
safely  beyond  the  southeastern  horizon  ;  but  he  found 
the  day  drawing  to  a  close  without  having  realized  his 
hope. 

It  was  evening  when  Mr.  Guerrin  with  hospitable 
intent  asked  him  to  walk  down  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
village  and  look  at  some  cattle  he  owned  there,  —  a 
proposition  which  he  did  not  accept  with  alacrity. 

"  How  far  is  it  ?  "  he  asked  for  want  of  something 
better. 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  151 

"  About  a  mile." 

"  A  mile !  "  and  in  looking  about  him  his  eyes  fell 
upon  Rachel  on  the  front  piazza.  "  I  was  wanting," 
he  said  with  hesitation,  "  to  talk  to  your  daughter." 
But  taking  his  hat  he  started  down  the  steps  toward 
the  gate  as  if  he  would  forego  that  desire.  He  seemed 
to  be  turning  a  further  confidence  over  in  his  mind. 
"  I  would  like,"  he  added,  when  they  were  out  of  hear 
ing  of  the  house,  "  to  marry  your  daughter." 

Mr.  Guerrin  stopped  short.  "  Eh  ?  "  he  said.  "  Not 
Rachel  ?  " 

"  That  is  what  I  would  like,"  said  Dayton,  relent 
lessly. 

Mr.  Guerrin  fitted  the  ends  of  his  fingers  together 
looking  vaguely  about  him.  "  Soho  !  "  he  softly  ex 
claimed.  He  had  had  a  gloomy  prescience  of  some 
such  moment  as  this,  but  it  had  never  occurred  to  him 
that  the  blow  might  come  from  such  a  quarter. 

"  I  thought  you  ought  to  know  what  sort  of  a  man 
it  was  you  were  harboring  under  your  roof,"  continued 
Dayton.  "  I  have  designs." 

"  I  half  ejected  it  from  Halstead,"  said  Mr. 
Guerrin,  moving  on,  "  but  I  never  thought  of  it  from 
you." 

Dayton  seemed  to  wish  to  take  the  edge  off  this 
reproach.  "  I  could  take  good  care  of  her,  sir,"  hr 
said. 

"  It  is  n't  that,  —  it  is  n't  that !  "  said  the  elder,  who 
felt  that  fathers  should  be  left  in  undisturbed  posses 
sion  of  their  daughters,  —  at  least  in  Massachusetts. 


152  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  She  does  n't  know  anything  about  it,"  said  Dayton, 
to  be  honest.  •'  Perhaps  she  would  not  look  at  me,  as 
a  husband."  The  word  applied  to  himself  seemed  to 
please  him.  "  I  would  make  her  a  good  husband,  sir,:* 
he  said,  with  smiling  ardor.  '•  I  would  have  more  re 
spect  for  myself  if  there  were  some  one  dependent 
upon  me." 

They  had  reached  the  gate,  and  Dayton  stopped 
with  his  hand  on  the  arch,  as  if  that  were  the  ter 
minus  of  his  walk.  "  I  would  like  to  have  her  know 
about  it  soon,"  he  resumed.  "  A  man  ought  to  give 
a  woman  time  to  think  seriously  of  him  and  not  wait 
for  a  grand  climax  in  which  to  make  his  appeal  and 
get  his  answer  in  a  breath." 

"  Why  man,"  cried  Mr.  Guerrin,  as  if  he  suddenly 
saw  a  clear  and  unexpected  solution  of  his  difficulty, 
"  Rachel  is  going  away.  She  has  made  all  her  plans. 
You  are  too  late.  She  is  n't  thinking  of  marriage," 
—  and  the  observation  plainly  gave  him  satisfaction. 
"  I  have  no  objection  to  you,  but  she  is  n't  thinking 
of  marriage." 

"  Going  away  !  "  ejaculated  Dayton. 

"  Yes,  —  to  her  great-aunt's.  Another  Desborough 
that  was." 

"  How  long  to  be  gone." 

"  The  rest  of  the  summer.  You  see  the  letter  came 
some  tune  ago,  but  she  only  decided  yesterday  or  the 
day  before,  and  now  she  can't  get  away  soon  enough 
I  am  glad  to  have  you  here.  I  hope  you  '11  stay,  but 
she  is  going." 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  153 

Rachel  still  walked  slowly  up  and  down  the  long 
piazza,  her  arms  folded  behind  her  back,  her  chin  up. 
She  seemed  to  have  a  great  many  thoughts.  But  in 
stead  of  joining  her,  Dayton  went  back  to  the  wing. 
"  Going  away  !  "  he  reiterated,  and  dissolution  seemed 
already  to  set  in.  Everything  except  the  column  he 
leaned  against  seemed  to  be  receding  out  of  his  reach, 
and  for  perhaps  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  felt  the  fu 
tility  of  effort. 

Dayton  was  tall,  broad  shouldered,  full  chested,  and 
with  the  look  of  a  man  who  never  dwelt  upon  himself, 
and  had  no  apparent  intentions  with  regard  to  his  ap 
pearance.  He  dressed  well,  yet  was  never  heard  to 
mention  the  subject  of  clothes.  He  had  fair  manners, 
yet  never  commented  upon  the  habits  of  the  vulgar. 
He  spoke  tolerable  English,  yet  no  deviations  gave 
him  pain.  Even  his  morals  seemed  to  escape  compari 
son  in  his  mind  with  the  nefarious  practices  of  his  fel 
low-men.  He  seemed  to  have  a  certain  tacit  sense  of 
the  ineptitude  of  error ;  and  a  practical  perception  of 
the  fitness  of  the  correct  for  him,  and  his  fitness  for 
the  correct  stood  him  instead  of  myriads  of  tastes  and 
principles.  He  took  no  credit  to  himself  for  being 
whatever  he  was,  except  what  concerned  his  reputation 
as  an  engineer,  and  perhaps  his  early  and  decided  bias 
for  superior  work  had  been  a  large  grace  in  the  life  of 
a  man  in  whom  the  animal  nature  had  plainly  not  been 
eliminated  that  the  intellectual  might  prosper. 

His  hair  was  short,  dark,  dry,  and  thin.  His  skin 
was  brown,  and  not  without  a  suggestion  of  leather  ; 


154  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

and  his  mouth  was  over  large.  His  usual  expression 
was  that  of  a  worker  of  problems,  but  when  he  smiled 
the  problems  blew  away.  He  was  not  smiling  now, 
and  Rachel  remarked  his  present  effort  at  solution, 
which  was  apparently  connected  with  the  mountain 
range  before  him ;  then  she  turned  and  went  into  the 
house. 

Presently  Dayton  knocked  upon  the  window  and 
asked  if  he  might  come  in. 

"  It  seems  you  are  going  away,"  he  said,  as  he  crossed 
the  threshold  and  advanced  into  the  room. 

"  Who  told  you  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Why  did  n't  you  tell  me  yourself  ?  " 

"  It  is  no  great  news,"  said  Rachel. 

"  Yes,  it  is.     It  is  astounding,"  he  insisted. 

Rachel  smiled,  and  agreed  with  him  that  perhaps  it 
was.  "  We  don't  travel  much,"  she  said. 

"  Is  n't  it  rather  —  sudden." 

"  Any  departure  is  sudden  for  us.  I  feel  as  if  I 
were  breaking  something." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Dayton. 

"  Won't  you  sit  down  ?  "  she  asked,  observing  that 
he  was  still  standing  without  any  apparent  purpose. 

But  Dayton  had  a  less  formal  intention.  "  I  would 
rather  not,"  he  answered  ;  "  let  us  go." 

"  Go  where  ?  " 

"  Wherever  you  like.  There  are  no  destinations 
about  here.  We  might  for  once  go  out  without  one. 
Did  you  have  enough  of  a  walk  outside  ?  You  some 
times  stroll." 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  155 

"  I  did  not  know,"  said  Rachel,  "  that  you  ever  did 
anything  so  aimless." 

She  went  with  him  out  upon  the  piazza.,  and  with 
her  elbows  in  her  hands  began  to  walk  up  and  down 
again  in  much  the  same  fashion  as  before,  looking  out 
between  the  columns  with  half  averted  face. 

"  That  won't  do,"  said  Dayton,  resenting  his  slight 
connection  with  her  promenade.  "  I  expect  you  to 
take  my  arm.  I  want  to  talk  to  you.  You  have  yet 
to  say  good-by  to  me.  How  are  you  going  to  do  it  ?  " 

"  I  am  not  going  to  do  it,"  said  Rachel.  "  I  don't 
believe  in  it.  It  is  a  sorrowful,  foolish  word.  "We  shed 
our  salty  tears  over  it  when  we  are  really  glad  to  go." 

"  I  won't  object  to  the.  tears,"  observed  Dayton. 

"  But  I  would,"  she  answered  smiling ;  and  he  felt 
himself  drawn  by  her  smile  from  the  seriousness  of  the 
future  to  the  fascination  of  the  hour. 

"  If  we  are  going  to  walk  out  here,"  she  went  on, 
"  you  ought  to  smoke.  You  always  smoke  when  you 
walk.  It  would  seem  more  natural." 

Dayton  stopped,  took  out  a  cigar  and  lighted  it. 
"  This,"  he  said,  "  is  a  brand  which  I  import  myself. 
There  is  a  masterful  notion  in  this  country  that  what 
one  imports  one's  self  is  better  than  anything  accessi 
ble  to  the  public.  I  have  a  friend  who  imports  the 
most  execrable  wines  at  an  enormous  price,  and  an 
other  who  smuggles  pictures.  We  are  all  alike  ;  we 
would  distinguish  ourselves  by  the  compliment  of  a 
special  importation.  My  specialty  is  cigars.  This  one, 
you  will  find,  burns  slowly,  —  it  takes  from  three  to 
tive  hours." 


156  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

Rachel  laughed  ;  and  this  time  she  took  his  arm. 

"  Explain  it  to  me,"  he  presently  begged  in  an  easier 
tone  than  he  would  have  thought  possible  a  few  min 
utes  before.  "  Explain  it  to  me.  What  takes  you 
away  just  now  ?  Have  n't  we  made  it  as  pleasant  for 
you  as  you  have  made  it  for  us  ?  " 

"You  have  made  it  very  pleasant,"  she  assented 
with  slight  constraint. 

"  You  will  have  a  whole  life-time  in  which  to  get 
away.  You  can  go  in  '83  or  in  '91.  Great-aunts  are 
patient.  They  can  wait." 

"  Mine  is  n't  of  that  sort.     She  can't  wait." 

"  Is  she  so  desperately  fond  of  you  ?  " 

"  She  would  n't  know  me  if  she  saw  me." 

They  reached  the  end  of  the  piazza,  and  turned  to 
retrace  their  steps.  "  Perhaps  she  anticipates  a  great 
deal  from  your  visit,"  conjectured  Dayton.  He  seemed 
to  be  speaking  of  some  remote  event  which  failed  just 
then  to  impress  him  with  the  force  of  fact. 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  am  afraid  the  thought  of  it  makes 
her  nervous."  And  Rachel  turned  her  face  again  to 
ward  the  gate-ways. 

"  Is  your  aunt  a  nervous  person  ?  "  he  inquired  mi 
cutely. 

"  They  tell  me  she  is  very  nervous." 

They  walked  on  a  few  minutes  more  in  silence.  "  I 
thought,"  said  Rachel,  "that  you  wanted  to  talk  to  me." 

Dayton  roused  himself.  "  So  I  did,"  he  cried.  "  So 
[  do.  I  am  in  a  constant  state  of  wanting  to  talk  to 
yon.  I  am  haunted  by  an  idea  that  I  have  a  great 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  157 

deal  to  say  to  you.  I  am  no  talker,  you  know.  I 
listen  to  these  fluent  people  in  amazement,  and  wonder 
where  it  all  comes  from  and  what  starts  it.  It  is 
a  great  thing  to  have  vagrant  ideas  always  blowing 
across  your  mind  in  an  easy,  breezy  fashion." 

"  Not  exactly  great,"  the  girl  dissented. 

"  As  fo;  me,"  resumed  Dayton,  "  I  have  no  senti 
ments  except  those  that  are  alive  with  some  agitation. 
I  occasionally  get  a  little  glibness  when  something 
stirs  the  pools,  but  I  can't  dip  in  at  any  cool  moment 
and  produce  a  nice  observation.  I  don't  perceive  ex 
cept  under  the  influence  of  feeling.  I  am  either  slug 
gish,  or  I  know  no  bounds.  For  the  life  of  me  I  can't 
talk  about  the  moon.  I  have  very  rarely  known  there 
was  a  moon." 

"  I  have  heard  enough  about  the  moon,"  she  de 
clared. 

"  What  have  n't  you  heard  about  ?  If  there  is  any 
thing  in  my  line  "  — 

"  You  were  born  hi  Rio  Janeiro  ;  you  might  begin 
there,"  said  the  girl. 

"  Who  told  you  that  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Halstead.  He  told  me  too  that  you  did  re 
markable  things  to  the  rivers  in  California,  —  making 
them  run  up  hill,  or  something  like  that.  And  there 
was  a  wonderful  bridge  over  a  stream  that  ran  nothing 
but  quicksand,  —  miles  of  quicksand.  Oh,  he  gave  me 
some  great  ideas  ! " 

"  He  did,  did  he  ?  But  the  highly  colored  ideas  he 
gives  one  of  others  are  always  accompanied  by  most 
agreeable  impressions  of  himself." 


158  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  He  can't  tell  anything  otherwise,"  she  replied. 

"  I  would  rather  furnish  you  the  baldest  facts,"  said 
Dayton. 

•'  Does  your  family  still  live  in  South  America  ?  " 
she  inquired. 

"  My  family  ?  I  have  n't  any,"  —  and  he  laughed  a 
little.  "  All  I  remember  of  the  time  when  I  belonged 
to  a  family  is  going  down-stairs  one  night  with  my 
mother  to  call  a  Portuguese  woman,  and  rousing  all  the 
dogs  and  the  negroes  that  slept  in  the  entrance  way. 
I  assure  you,  though,  we  were  very  nice  people,  if  that 
is  what  you  would  like  to  know." 

"  Yes,"  said  Rachel.     "  I  like  to  know  that." 

"  Oh,  you  need  n't  be  afraid  that  we  were  common. 
I  suspect  that  my  mother  was  almost  elegant." 

"  I  should  not  wonder,"  said  Rachel  thoughtfully. 

She  had  begun  to  look  before  them  along  the  line 
of  the  piazza. 

"While  we  lived  as  a  family,"  he  said,  "we  lived 
well.  We  had  the  refinements.  But  it  did  not  last. 
My  father  was  a  ship  captain,  running  between  New 
York  and  Rio,  but  he  died  when  I  was  a  youngster, 
and  my  mother  soon  followed  him.  She  always  fol 
lowed  him  when  he  was  going  to  stay  in  port  for  any 
length  of  time.  She  was  very  fond  of  him." 

"  What  became  of  you  ?  " 

"  I  was  sent  to  my  grandfather's  in  a  New  Hamp 
shire  town." 

"  Did  you  live  there  ?  " 

"No  longer  than  I  could  help,"  said  Dayton.  "I 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  159 

ran  away."  Rachel  had  turned  quite  around,  and  to  be 
thus  ardently  questioned  seemed  most  auspicious.  He 
examined  his  cigar.  It  had  gone  quite  out. 

"  And  then  what  ?  "  pursued  the  girl. 

"  I  went  to  Boston." 

"  Well  ?  " 

"  You  don't  want  me  to  tell  you  the  rest,  do  yon  ? 
The  romance  dies  out  when  I  eome  to  the  front.  It 
grows  prosy  to  the  last  degree.  Ask  me  something 
later.  I  don't  know  how  well  you  could  stand  the  first 
few  years  of  my  career." 

"  Try  me." 

"  I  prefer  not  to  try  you  in  any  way.     I  am  timid." 

Rachel  seemed  to  think  him  humorous.  "  You  must 
have  been  poor,  then,"  she  said. 

"  I  would  rather  like  to  give  the  lad  I  was  then  a 
lift,"  assented  Dayton.  "  During  the  war  I  was  in  an 
engineer  regiment.  Since  then  I  have  been  in  Califor 
nia,  and  here,  there,  and  most  anywhere  on  the  fron 
tier  line  of  a  railroad.  Had  n't  we  better  quit  this  ?  If 
is  too  egotistical." 

"  Had  you  friends  in  Boston  ?  "  she  persisted. 

"  Only  those  I  made.  I  have  always  had  friends 
among  men.  It  has  been  among  men  that  I  have 
lived.  I  have  n't  known  many  families,  —  not  many 
ivomen.  I  have  knocked  about  a  great  deal  in  the 
western  country  where  there  were  none  to  speak  ofi 
I  believe  I  have  had  rather  a  rough  time  of  it,  without 
knowing  it  till  now." 

"  I  went  up  last  night  to  say  good-by  to  Mrs.  Ster- 


160  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

ang,"  said  Rachel,  as  if  her  mind  found  some  easy 
connection  between  the  topics,  —  probably  considering 
Mrs.  Sterling  the  one  woman  of  his  acquaintance. 

"  Good-by  ?  "  repeated  Dayton. 

"  I  go  to-morrow,  you  know.  Did  n't  you  see  my 
trunks  ?  " 

She  seemed  to  expect  some  sympathetic  good  wishes 
for  her  journey,  but  Dayton  stopped  and  looked  down 
upon  her  with  his  problematic  air.  "  Is  that  settled?" 
he  asked. 

"  Settled  ?     Yes,  of  course." 

Dayton  took  hold  of  a  bench  before  him  making  it 
creak.  "  Settled !  "  he  said,  and  he  seemed  to  wish  to 
shake  in  like  manner  the  decision  that  was  closed 
against  him.  While  he  considered  it  Rachel  took  a 
short  turn  by  herself,  looking  out  among  the  elms 
again. 

"  Do  you  know,"  she  began  impersonally,  "  I  think 
you  have  had  a  fine  sort  of  life." 

"  Are  you  trying  to  congratulate  me  ?  "  asked  Day 
ton.  "  Come  ;  as  a  life  how  does  it  strike  you  ?  Look 
ing  at  it  impartially,  what  do  you  think  of  it,  —  of  its 
symmetry,  its  completeness,  its  exquisite  finish  ?  —  of 
its  conception,  its  execution?  Nothing  mechanical 
about  it.  No  lop-sidedness,  no  crudity.  Oh,  it  is  truly 
fine!  —  a  destiny,  don't  you  think,  that  a  man  might 
be  proud  to  have  carved  for  himself  ?  And  I  have  n't 
been  more  than  forty  years  about  it,  either.  It  has  the 
beauty,  I  should  say,  of  a  trestle-work.  It  looks  as 
if  it  had  been  made  by  an  inspired  money-seeker  with 
an  ax.  You  set  me  up.  You  make  me  feel  vain." 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  161 

Rachel  flushed  a  little.  He  seemed  to  be  deriding 
her  excessive  simplicity.  "  It  seemed  line  to  me,"  she 
said,  with  modest  sincerity. 

"  It  occurs  to  me  at  last,"  continued  Dayton,  "  that 
among  other  huge  things  I  have  made  a  huge  mistake. 
It  is  the  hugest  of  all.  I  thought  once  that  if  a  man 
could  build  bridges,  he  could  bridge  anything,  —  do 
anything.  We  bridge  only  brooks,  and  it  only  leads  to 
the  bridging  of  more  brooks.  It  has  no  earthly  con 
nection  with  achievement  in  finer  directions.  I  thought 
if  I  could  build  my  bridge  and  cross  it,  I  would  be  a 
powerful  fellow.  You  don't  mean  to  tell  me  that  I  am 
a  powerful  fellow,  Miss  Guerrin.  You  can't  exactly  say 
that  I  have  much  influence  with  you,  for  instance.  I 
wish  now  that  I  had  spent  a  good  part  of  my  time 
weaving  webs.  You  can't  weave  webs  with  grappling 
irons.  I  am  a  failure.  Mine  has  been  a  heavy,  crude 
performance,  one-sided,  ridiculous,  —  ending  in  noth 
ing." 

"  Is  success,  then,  so  disastrous  ?  "  asked  Rachel,  as 
if  the  facts  compelled  her  to  look  lightly  upon  his 
phenomenal  and  satirical  despair.  "  If  you  give  up, 
the  rest  of  us  need  never  begin." 

"  Oh,  I  shall  not  give  up.  I  know  nothing  else 
than  to  keep  on.  I  shall  go  back  to  my  bridges,  and 
you  will  go  on  to  your  aunts.  That  is  the  arrange 
ment,  is  n't  it?  We  both,  I  think,  have  the  gift  of  con 
tinuance.  Who  is  this  aunt  that  you  are  so  enamored 
with?  And  where  does  she  live?  Suppose  we  sit 
down  and  talk  about  her.  You  love  your  aunts  ad 
11 


162  AN   EARNEST    TKIFLER. 

I  love  my  bridges.  My  heart  is  full  of  bridges  with 
roaring  cataracts  under  them.  Sit  down  and  I  will  tell 
you  about  them.  And  you  shall  tell  me  about  your 
aunts,  particularly  the  one  with  the  nervous  affection. 
I  think  that  I  perhaps  have  the  same  malady." 

"  Not  you ! "  said  Rachel.  She  was  still  smiling 
vaguely.  "  Not  you  !  "  she  said. 

"  I  can't  tell,"  said  Dayton,  "  till  I  hear  the  diag 
nosis.  She  can't  wait,  that  is  one  thing." 

He  was  often  puzzling  to  her.  She  met  his  intent 
gaze  a  moment,  her  own  becoming  briefly  as  intent. 
"  I  know  you  less  and  less,"  she  finally  said. 

"  Whose  fault  is  that  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Your's,  when  you  talk  like  that,"  she  answered, 
beginning  her  faltering  smile  again. 

"  You  should  be  so  kind  as  to  tell  me  what  my  pros 
pects  are  ?  " 

"  Prospects  !  I  don't  know  much  about  prospects. 
I  have  done  no  prospecting  to  speak  of." 

"  So  long  as  a  man  is  in  pursuit  of  a  livelihood,"  con 
tinued  Dayton,  "  the  result  may  be  somewhere  in  pro 
portion  to  his  endeavors,  but  when  he  demands  a  senti 
ment,  he  gets  it  or  not,  as  it  happens.  Affinities  and 
subtleties  beyond  him  come  in  about  that  time,  and  aid 
him  or  thwart  him,  as  the  case  may  be.  That  is  where 
our  tracks  run  up  trees.  My  track  has  run  up  a  tree." 

"  There  is  a  mistake  somewhere,"  said  Rachel;  "  there 
is  a  mistake  somewhere  !  " 

"  Where  ?  "  exclaimed  Dayton. 

There  was  that  about  him  that  Rachel  had  never 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  163 

seen  before  ;  a  fervor,  a  recklessness,  a  willingness 
to  harbor  in  his  hitherto  independent  and  solitary  be 
ing  whatever  of  warmth  or  familiarity  might  be  al 
lotted  to  him ;  a  desire  to  command  it  even,  though 
he  might  thereby  lay  himself  open  to  disappointment 
and  rebuff.  He  seemed  to  include  her,  and  her  only, 
in  his  new  freak  of  passionate  hospitality. 

The  door  of  the  hall  stood  open.  She  thought  of 
going  in.  She  thought  of  what  Halstead  had  said. 

"  Know  me  better  :  know  me  well ;  —  good  might 
come  of  it,"  he  cried.  "  How  is  it  that  men  find  their 
way  into  the  regard  of  women  ?  However  it  is,  that  is 
what  I  want.  I  would  like  to  be  in  the  ring  that  binds 
people  together.  Can't  you  make  room  for  me  some 
where  near  you  ?  " 

"  You  don't  know  "  —  Eachel  began. 

"  Yes,  I  do,"  he  answered,  interrupting  her.  "  I  know 
all  about  it.  That  is  the  trouble  with  me.  I  know  it 
is  n't  I  whom  you  have  been  considering.  I  am  not 
seeking  your  confidence.  I  would  rather  not  have  it 
just  now ;  it  might  dispirit  me.  All  I  ask  of  you  is 
to  take  some  account  of  my  pretensions  when  you  are 
making  up  your  plans.  I  want  you  to  think  well  of 
me,  and  to  remember  that  on  all  possible  occasions  I 
lay  claims  to  your  attention.  I  want  to  help  you  en 
joy  your  life." 

"  I  can't  think  of  it,"  said  Rachel,  with  deep  excite 
ment.  "  I  can't  think  of  it."  She  felt,  indeed,  a  cer 
tain  sense  of  self-disparagement  in  listening  to  words 
of  such  similar  import  at  such  short  intervals  from 
both  these  strange  gentlemen. 


164  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  But  you  will,"  said  Dayton,  with  persistent  hope 
fulness.  "  If  you  were  altogether  happy  you  would  not 
be  going  away.  I  don't  ask  you  to  begin  now.  I  only 
want  to  impress  your  opportunities  upon  you.  When 
you  come  back  we  will  begin  anew.  Was  n't  it  in 
your  programme  that  I  should  be  here  when  you  came 
back?" 

"  No,"  she  answered,  with  hesitation. 

"  No  matter,"  he  rejoined.  "  You  can  put  it  in  now. 
Wherever  I  am  I  shall  turn  up  here  again."  He  had 
taken  her  hand,  she  did  not  know  just  when,  and  was 
looking  fervidly  down  upon  her. 

From  somewhere  in  the  back  of  the  house  Miss 
Hannah  was  heard  advancing,  putting  down  windows 
and  fastening  bolts  as  she  came ;  and  Rachel,  releasing 
herself,  shadowed  along  the  piazza. 


XV. 

WHEN  Rachel  got  off  the  train  at  the  city  of  fl 


an  old  gentleman  with  uncertain  manner  looked  her 
over  in  eager  inspection,  then  veiled  his  inquiring 
glance  behind  the  usual  guise  of  stranger?,  waited  till 
the  passengers  had  all  alighted ;  passed  and  repassed 
her  with  slow  steps,  leaning  on  his  cane,  till  finally, 
meeting  her  face  to  face,  he  came  forward  with  out 
stretched  hand. 

"  Well,  well ! "  he  said,  "  I  believe  it  is,"  and  he 
laughed  slightly  as  if  it  were  a  joke  on  somebody. 
"  Your  aunt,"  he  presently  explained,  "  is  waiting  out 
side.  She  sent  me  in  to  find  you.  She  told  me  — 
well,  no  matter  what  she  told  me  !  "  and  he  laughed 
again. 

"  This,  Sabra,"  he  said,  stopping  before  a  landau  in 
which  sat  a  thin  oldish  lady  with  very  precise  manners, 
"this  is  the  little  villager  whom  you  were  expecting. 
You  will  be  relieved  to  see  her.  And  this,  my  dear," 
turning  to  Rachel,  "  is  your  great-aunt."  And  depos 
iting  her  satchels  on  the  seat,  he  looked  from  one  to 
the  other  as  if  he  had  prepared  some  witty  surprise. 

"  I  don't  see,  Robert,"  returned  the  lady,  "  what 
you  find  to  be  amused  at.  My  husband,"  she  added 
apologetically,  "  is  amused  at  everything.  And  he  will 
call  me  Sabra.  I  am  glad,  my  dear,  that  they  gave 


166  AN  EAENEST   TRIFLER. 

you  a  bettor  name,  though  Rachel,  to  be  sure,  is  not 
quite  fashionable  now.  T  am  glad  to  see  you,  and  Mr. 
Cotter,  I  know,  will  be  pleased.  He  is  very  fond  of 
young  people.  I  would  be,  too,  but  my  health,  you 
know,  is  not  the  best.  I  am  troubled  a  great  deal  with 
asthma.  Ar'n't  you  going  to  ride  up,  Robert  ?  " 

"  No,"  replied  Mr.  Cotter.  "  I  will  hunt  up  her  — 
her  bandboxes.  .1  will  be  there  by  the  time  you  get 
the  dust  off."  And  closing  the  door  he  went  away, 
smiling  still. 

"  You  have  n't  been  in  the  city  before,"  began  the 
lady,  as  they  started  up  the  street.  "  Drive  slowly, 
Matthew.  I  understand  you  have  always  lived  in  the 
country.  Beaudeck  is  a  very  shut-up  place.  I  spent 
my  own  girlhood  there,  strange  as  it  may  seem.  I 
hope  it  will  do  you  good  to  get  away.  You  ought  to 
see  more.  Our  streets  are  not  very  lively  now.  A 
great  many  of  our  best  people  are  away,  though  some 
prefer  to  go  south  winters  and  stay  at  home  in  the  hot 
season.  I  did  n't  suppose  you  would  care,  not  being 
used  to  it.  I  thought  we  might  have  a  quiet  time 
among  ourselves.  I  told  Mr.  Cotter  you  would  n't 
care  for  society,  but,  come  to  see  you,  you  look  as  if 
you  might.  You  are  one  of  the  straight-nosed  Des- 
boroughs,  after  all.  I  did  n't  know  but  you  might  be 
something  of  a  Guerrin.  You  have  your  father's  ex 
pression,  though  —  something  about  the  eyes,  or  is  it 
the  mouth  ?  Matthew,  more  slowly.  Mr.  Cotter  will 
be  glad  to  have  you  with  us,  I  am  sure.  He  is  a  very 
peculiar  man.  I  have  no  children  of  my  own,  you 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  167 

know.  They  died  when  they  were  very  small,  and  it 
can't  be  helped  now.  I  think  Mr.  Cotter  feels  it  is  my 
duty  to  supply  the  house  in  some  way  with  young  peo 
ple.  We  have  everything  else,  but  he  is  n't  satisfied. 
He  would  have  the  house  stretched  open  from  morning 
till  night,  even  on  the  Sabbath,  I  am  afraid,  if  he  had 
his  way.  I  try  not  to  let  him  have  his  way  in  all 
things.  He  has  his  way  a  great  deal.  It  was  he  pro 
posed  to  send  for  you.  He  gave  up  his  practice  much 
too  soon,  though  he  is  older  than  he  seems.  We  both 
are.  When  he  had  his  business  he  did  n't  seem  to 
care  so  much  for  other  things  —  Matthew,  Matthew ! 
Are  you  afraid  of  horses,  my  dear  ?  I  never  like  to 
jolt  across  these  tracks.  I  wonder  that  the  people 
tolerate  street-cars.  They  are  the  ruin  of  the  streets. 
I  have  heard  they  took  a  great  deal  of  pains  with 
you,  sending  you  away  to  school  and  so  on,  but  that 
would  n't  have  given  you  your  complexion  or  your 
nose.  Probably  it  helped  about  your  dresses.  You 
certainly  look  very  nice.  I  have  some  friends,  my 
dear,  that  I  would  like  to  introduce  you  to.  I  could 
almost  wish  now  that  it  was  a  gayer  season.  I  would 
like  to  have  them  see  what  I  was  like  at  your  age. 
After  all,  there  are  a  good  many  left,  —  some  of  the 
best.  The  Hannas  are  still  here.  But  they  are  always 
here.  They  hate  travel.  We  will  have  our  friends 
oome  and  see  you.  Mr.  Cotter,  I  think,  will  like  it 
too.  It  would  keep  him  at  home  more.  I  can't  tell 
you  how  many  times  a  day  he  goes  down  street ;  and 
he  always  walks.  He  won't  even  have  his  newspapers 


168  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

brought  to  the  house.  He  goes  out  and  buys  them. 
Every  time  a  paper  comes,  he  goes  out  and  buys  it. 
If  there  were  many  more  papers  he  would  never  be  at 
home.  It  is  n't  that  he  reads  them  all.  Half  of  them 
he  stuffs  in  his  pockets.  It  is  a  great  waste.  I  believe 
he  does  it  on  account  of  the  newsboys.  It  is  the  same 
way  with  the  barbers  and  the  shoe-blacks.  He  will 
want  you  to  go  out  with  him  a  great  deal.  Do  you 
walk  ?  I  never  walk.  Mr.  Cotter  says  I  would  be 
better  if  I  would  go  out,  but  I  have  gone  out  and  was 
no  better.  He  has  the  rheumatism  himself,  but  he 
won't  admit  it.  Rheumatism  does  n't  show  unless  it  is 
very  bad.  He  has  it  worse  than  he  pretends.  Any 
body  can  tell  the  asthma.  I  hope  you  will  like  our 
city.  It  is  n't  large,  but  some  of  our  stores  are  very 
fine.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  wealth  here.  I  will 
take  you  to  the  stores  myself.  We  have  n't  many 
young  people.  I  don't  think  there  are  as  many  young 
people  as  there  used  to  be  ;  but  I  know  a  few,  and 
they  know  others.  I  suppose  I  might  take  the  time  to 
go  out  more,  but  servants  are  always  careless  unless 
watched." 

It  was  with  this  familiar  sort  of  allocution  that  Mrs. 
Cotter  beguiled  the  time  between  the  depot  and  her 
house,  and  to  which  her  niece  now  and  then  responded 
as  opportunity  was  afforded  her.  They  were  admitted 
by  a  sable  servant,  and  Rachel  was  left  for  a  moment 
in  the  closed  and  darkened  drawing  rooms,  in  which 
the  felt  too  formal  even  to  look  about  her.  They 
were  in  wonderful  order,  and  it  would  have  been  a 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  169 

bold  person  who  could  even  take  a  chair  without 
murmuring  something  to  the  effect  that  necessity  knew 
no  law.  It  seemed  as  if  their  occupants  were  dead, 
and  everything  was  lovely.  Presently  she  was  shown 
up-stairs  to  a  large  front  room  by  a  maid,  who  hastily 
explained  that  as  a  change  had  been  made  in  her 
apartment,  things  might  not  be  quite  as  neat  as  they 
might  be  ;  though  Rachel,  in  looking  about  her,  could 
see  nothing  further  to  be  desired.  She  thought  it  the 
finest  room  she  had  ever  been  in.  It  had  a  chan 
delier  over  the  dressing-case,  and  a  lace  coverlet  on 
the  bed,  with  neither  of  which  luxuries  she  was  fa 
miliar. 

"  I  forgot  to  ask,"  began  Mrs.  Cotter,  later,  softly 
bustling  around  as  they  came  out  of  the  dining-room, 
"  about  your  mother  and  her  sisters,  my  nieces,  or 
rather  my  half  nieces  or  step-nieces.  It  is  a  pity  for 
families  to  separate  so.  I  wish  now  that  I  had  known 
you  all  along.  I  might  have  advised  them  about  your 
education.  I  suppose  you  know  Latin  ?  I  learned 
some  Latin  myself  at  the  hill  school,  but  it  has  n't 
been  of  much  use  to  me.  There  isn't  much  Latin 
floating  about  in  conversation.  I  don't  see  the  use  of 
learning  things  you  have  to  cover  up.  Sit  here,  my 
dear.  I  always  said  that  accomplishments  were  as 
good  as  anything  for  girls.  Robert,  will  you  open  that 
other  window  ?  " 

Mr.  Cotter  opened  the  othei  window,  and  spread 
»part  the  curtains  with  an  expression  of  humorous 
obedience.  They  were  long  windows,  opening  on 


170  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

very  small  balconies.  As  he  did  so,  something  down 
the  street  caught  his  eye,  and  going  out  he  stepped 
down  to  the  gate. 

"  There  he  goes  again,"  said  Mrs.  Cotter,  "  and 
without  his  hat."  Something  seemed  also  to  catch  her 
eya.  and  she  bent  far  forward  over  her  lap.  "I  do 
hope,"  she  went  on,  as  if  communing  with  herself. 
"  that  he  will  wait  and  speak  to  him.  It  would  be  as 
good  a  time  as  any  to  tell  him." 

Rachel,  sitting  in  front  of  one  of  the  windows,  also 
looked  out. 

Across  the  street  was  a  large,  dark  house  in  an  im 
mense  yard  surrounded  by  a  high  fence.  The  gate 
was  open,  and  a  gentleman  was  walking  down  the 
roadway  picking  his  teeth.  Mr.  Cotter,  at  his  own 
gate,  was  waiting  the  approach  of  a  breathless  boy 
who  had  newspapers  under  his  arm,  when  the  dark 
gentleman  who  had  come  from  the  opposite  house 
sauntered  along  and  stopped  to  exchange  sentences 
with  him.  He  then  returned  to  the  drawing-room  car 
rying  a  damp  evening  sheet. 

"  Did  you  ask  him  in  ?  "  inquired  his  wife,  when  he 
reappeared  at  the  door. 

"  Ask  whom  in  ?  " 

"  Jerome,  of  course." 

«  No." 

"  Nor  even  tell  him  to  call  ?  " 

"  No,"  again  admitted  the  delinquent. 

"  "Well,  that  shows !  "  said  Mrs.  Cotter,  reproach 
fully.  "  But  he  saw  you,  my  dear.  That  is  what  he 
stopped  for,"  and  she  nodded  her  head  at  Rachel. 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  171 

"  He  was  greatly  affected  at  seeing  the  windows 
open,"  returned  her  husband,  as  if  poking  some  one  in 
the  ribs. 

He  looked  down  his  paper  ;  then  went  out  again, 
shortly  returning  as  before.  "  I  told  Matthew  to  bring 
back  tbe  horses,"  he  announced.  "  I  am  going  to  the 
club.  They  have  some  pictures  to  show  for  the  benefit 
of  —  I  forget  now  what.  I  would  like  to  take  the 
young  lady  with  me." 

"  Robert !  "  protested  Mrs.  Cotter.  "  She 's  too 
tired." 

"  Oh,  no,  I  am  not  tired,"  said  Rachel. 

"  It 's  no  place  to  show  her  first." 

"  Put  a  veil  on,  then,"  pursued  that  gentleman. 
"  You  can  unveil  her  to-morrow  at  church  with  all  tho 
more  effect.  We  '11  have  it  in  the  papers." 

Rachel  had  risen  with  smiling  readiness,  and  Mrs. 
Cotter  slowly  rose  also.  "  If  you  will  go,"  she  said, 
after  some  fluttering  hesitation,  "  I  ought  to  go  too. 
It  may  not  stuff  me  up  much,  and  perhaps  the  evening 
would  be  a  little  long." 

"  Good  !  "  said  Mr.  Cotter,  as  if  wonders  would  never 
cease. 

As  they  crossed  the  pavement  to  the  carriage  the 
same  dark  gentleman  came  strolling  back,  and  Mrs. 
Cotter  stopped  to  speak  to  him.  As  she  left  him  she 
uodded  several  times.  "  And  bring  your  mother  with 
you,"  she  said,  nodding  again  from  the  carriage.  "  Why 
don't  you  inquire  who  that  is  ?  "  she  asked  of  Rachel, 
as  they  drove  away. 


172  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  the  girl.     "  Who  is  it  ?  " 

"  You  are,  —  let  me  see,  you  must  be  over  twenty 
How  old,  Robert,  should  you  think  Mr  Hanna  was  ?  " 

"  I  don't  see  that  it  makes  much  difference  how  old 
he  is,"  returned  her  husband.  "  He  is  forty  odd. 
Probably  the  young  lady  is  not  much  interested  in  the 
ages  of  old  men  ?  " 

"  He  is  not  a  favorite  of  Mr.  Cotter's,"  explained 
the  lady.  "I  don't  know  why.  He  is  an  estimable 
young  man.  He  is  a  warden  in  the  church,  and  he 
has  always  been  very  good  to  his  mother.  We  are 
neighbors.  She  and  I  have  always  been  very  friendly. 
She  is  not  a  "pleasant  person,  but  what  she  says  has 
great  weight.  Jerome  looks  after  her  property  for  her 
He  is  a  good  son." 

"  Has  he  no  other  business  ?  "  asked  Rachel,  making 
conversation. 

"  He  tends  some  to  other  people's,"  said  Mr.  Cotter 
amiably. 

No  man  in  the  small  metropolis  where  he  lived  was 
better  known  than  Robert  Cotter.  (He  was  always 
spoken  of  as  Robert  Cotter.)  He  was  nothing  if  not 
a  citizen  ;  and  though  his  usefulness  lay  chiefly  in  the 
past,  —  consisting  now  in  reputation,  in  his  connection 
with  subscription  lists,  and  in  the  imposing  presence 
which  he  frequently  lent  to  public  assemblies,  he  was 
regarded  by  the  people  with  a  kindly  and  reasonable 
piide.  He  liked  well-worn  flagstones,  whittled  pea- 
uut  stands,  crowded  passage-ways,  green  groceries  tres- 
oassing  or,  the  pavement,  and  streets  blocked  with 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  173 

traffic.  He  liked  working-men's  meetings,  historical 
societies,  cobblers'  associations,  drum-corps,  scientific 
assemblies,  polls,  station-houses,  lecture  rooms,  barber 
shops,  —  all  sorts  of  urban  and  suburban  sights  and 
sounds  ;  and  it  was  only  as  it  filled  the  stomachs  of  the 
towns  that  he  took  an  interest  in  the  country.  It 
was  told  of  him  that  sauntering  one  morning  along 
the  busy  main  street,  he  was  accosted  by  a  friend,  who 
inquired  after  his  welfare.  "  I  am  perfectly  happy," 
returned  Mr.  Cotter,  "  perfectly  happy ;  I  have  n't 
even  a  thought."  His  form  was  erect,  his  face 
smooth-shaven,  his  hair  white,  and  he  habitually  wore 
a  swallow-tailed  coat  and  a  white  tie.  A  picture 
of  him  was  frescoed  upon  the  walls  of  the  court 
house,  and  he  frequently  paid  it  his  respects,  as  if  to 
by-gone  talent  and  virile  strength.  He  had  married 
early,  and  had  discovered  almost  simultaneously  that 
he  was  strangely  alien  to  feminine  perfections.  "  Per 
fection  cannot  change,"  he  said  ;  "  lean."  He  changed 
very  much,  but  from  some  peculiar  association  he  had 
not  been  in  Beaudeck  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  He 
married  in  Beaudeck.  And  in  the  years  since  then 
the  wife  of  his  youthful  bosom  had  come  to  bear 
about  the  same  relation  to  that  bosom  that  a  damson 
plum  bears  to  Co  vent  Garden. 

It  was  said  that  he  had  been  intemperate,  though  no 
body  seemed  to  know  exactly  when. 

The  twinkling  eyes  that  had  taken  such  varied 
scenes  upon  their  restless  retinas  were  somewhat  dim. 
The  sonorous  voice  that  had  made  the  flesh  creep 


174  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

along  the  backs  of  juries  was  somewhat  husky.  Hia 
step  was  slow,  and  when  he  spoke  he  generally  stopped 
as  if  it  were  growing  difficult  to  carry  on  both  proc 
esses  at  once.  And  the  hand  which  held  his  news 
paper  was  unsteady,  though  the  markets  were  still 
quoted  as  firm.  "  Where  are  all  the  young  people,  the 
gay  people  ?  "  he  asked,  one  day.  And  this  was  the 
origin  of  the  letter  to  Rachel. 

Mrs.  Cotter  had  regular  features,  a  dark  complex 
ion,  black  eyes,  and  a  nose  rather  apt  to  be  red  from 
October  till  May.  She  came  out  of  her  room  every 
morning  in  a  pair  of  soft  slippers,  with  a  soft  worsted 
shawl  about  her  shoulders  ;  poured  the  coffee  without 
a  drop  upon  the  cloth;  told  her  dreams  and  her  ill 
nesses  in  a  soft  flannel  voice  in  her  well  moments,  — 
otherwise  in  rather  wheezing  tones ;  gave  her  orders 
to  her  servants ;  footed  up  her  accounts  (Robert  Cot 
ter  always  laughed  at  these  accounts),  and  then  occu 
pied  herself  in  bringing  some  detail  of  her  house  to 
that  point  of  severe  nicety  which  is  only  possible  in 
the  absence  of  children  and  external  interests. 

She  had  looked  forward  with  considerable  anxiety 
to  Rachel's  visit,  fearing  she  might  be  mortified  by 
the  crudities  of  a  young  creature  from  the  hills,  and 
shrinking  from  the  idea  of  an  awkward  relative,  since 
kinship  with  a  common  person  illustrates  unpleasantly 
the  accident  of  one's  own  elegance.  She  might  con 
scientiously  have  faced  an  ill-dressed  niece,  but  she 
would  have  suffered  much  from  it  at  night,  and  would 
have  explained  to  every  one  how  it  happened.  She 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  175 

was  fond  of  explaining  how  things  happened,  and  could 
always  trace  misfortune  to  personal  imprudence, — 
everything  except  asthma,  which  was  sent  direct  from 
Heaven.  There  was  very  little  in  the  world  which  she 
could  not  explain,  and  in  colds,  bankruptcies,  misfits, 
and  all  sorts  of  wretchedness  she  was  very  apt.  Mr. 
Cotter,  on  the  other  hand,  found  much  that  was  in 
scrutable  heie  below,  and  ignoiantly  believed  that 
many  persons,  even  poor  sick  persons,  were  quite 
blameless.  Furthermore  he  never  told  his  wife  when 
he  felt  a  twinge  of  rheumatism,  or  when  he  met  with 
any  loss. 

The  experiment,  however,  with  the  young  creature 
from  the  hills,  who  proved  a  charming  and  beauti 
ful  creature,  was  eminently  satisfactory ;  and  finding 
Rachel  a  credit  to  her,  —  a  neat  and  unexpected  com 
pliment  to  the  family,  —  Mrs.  Cotter  sought  to  do  the 
proper  thing  by  her  in  every  respect.  Not  only  were 
the  piano  and  shutters  left  open,  the  furniture  covers 
permanently  removed,  and  an  injurious  draft  allowed 
in  the  halls,  but  she  soon  introduced  her  to  her  finest 
and  most  terrible  friends,  without  reluctance  or  reser 
vation,  and  was  surprised  to  find  how  many  young 
persons,  particularly  young  gentlemen,  there  were  con 
nected  with  the  families  of  her  acquaintance.  Liveried 
footmen  brought  cards  to  the  door,  and  elaborate  toi 
lets  tripped  up  the  steps ;  while  short,  broad  backs, 
and  tall,  straight  backs  crooked  at  evening  over  the 
low  iron  gate  hunting  the  unfamiliar  latch.  This 
pleased  the  greatest  of  aunts,  who  laid  aside  some  of 


176  AN   EARNEST    TR1FLER. 

her  soft  woolens,  grew  better  in  health,  and  quietly 
pursued  a  project  not  unconnected  with  a  neighboring 
estate  incumbered  with  a  bachelor.  It  was  very  ex 
citing.  It  seemed  many  years  to  Mrs.  Cotter  since 
virgins  married  bachelors. 

To  Rachel  Guerrin  herself  the  first  day  or  two  of 
her  visit  seemed  as  flavorless  as  real  life  when  on« 
lays  down  a  vivid  romance.  She  had  come.  She 
would  stay.  She  wished  to  plunge  with  all  her  heart 
into  her  new  diversions,  but  she  did  not  find  herself  as 
interested  as  she  had  expected  to  be  in  a  discursive 
view  over  this  larger  and  more  populous  field.  The 
city  was  full  of  strangers,  the  extent  of  whose  strange 
ness  she  had  not  yet  measured,  but  which  she  believed 
to  be  very  deep  ;  yet  the  process  of  lessening  that 
strangeness  was  not  absorbing,  and  when  alone  her 
thoughts  centered  upon  what  was  already  familiar  to 
her. 

When  she  had  been  there  some  days  she  stepped  out 
the  front  door  one  afternoon  upon  the  flight  of  stone 
steps  which  was  savagely  guarded  by  lions  ;  satisfied 
herself  that  the  third  button  of  her  glove  was  securely 
fastened ;  looked  down  at  the  fine  horses  and  the  glit 
tering  spokes  of  the  equipage  in  waiting ;  also  at  the 
smiling  party  there  assembled  for  an  excursion,  and  re 
alized  that  she  was  part  of  the  gay,  philandering  world 
to  which  Nathan  Halstead  had  always  belonged,  and 
of  which  she  too  had  wished  to  be  a  member.  She 
knew  that  wherever  she  went  friends  waited  to  attend 
her,  and  when  she  stopped  a  small  court  gathered 


AN   EARNEST    TEIFLER  177 

round  her.  She  knew,  too,  that  when  she  went  down 
a  room  full  of  people  heads  fell  off,  —  heads  cropped 
close  like  gladiators.  And  she  took  no  notice.  It 
was  owing  to  her  Greek  nose. 

"  Rachel,"  said  Mrs.  Cotter  one  day,  "  you  should 
begin  to  think  of  being  married.  There  are  gentle 
men  here  —  not  too  young,  who  ought  to  satisfy  a  girl 
much  more  ambitious  than  you,  and  if  you  are  wise 
you  will  look  about  you." 

"  But  I  am  not  wise,"  answered  Rachel. 

"  I  will  be  wise  for  you,"  offered  her  aunt. 

"  Oh,  please  don't,"  said  the  girl  in  alarm. 

It  was  that  very  evening  that  young  Garrotson, 
whose  locks  were  cropped  very  close  indeed,  paused  at 
the  door  as  he  was  about  to  take  his  leave,  and  putting 
his  hands  to  his  head  (perhaps  to  sustain  an  emptiness 
there),  said  to  her,  "  I  am  infatuated.  I  love  you." 
He  had  heretofore  had  an  extremely  dull  summer. 

"  I  am  very  sorry,"  said  Rachel,  sincerely,  but  a  trifle 
disdainfully,  as  she  raised  her  profile  against  the  cur 
tains.  She  wondered  if  this  were  illustrative  of  Mrs. 
Cotter's  wisdom. 

When  the  door  closed  behind  him  she  fell  into  a  rev 
erie.  After  a  time  the  disdain  disappeared.  Even 
her  brightness  was  obscured.  Her  face  grew  softer, 
and  she  sat  with  her  hands  in  her  lap  in  a  dreaming 
attitude.  She  sat  a  long  time,  and  it  is  not  impossible 
that  her  desire  for  the  varied  social  life  had  changed 
to  a  dream  of  the  fuller  and  intenser  heart-life  to  which 
the  young  and  the  rustic  look  vaguely  forward. 


178  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

It  was  in  a  letter  to  Margaret  Duncan  that  Rachel 
set  down  some  of  her  impressions  of  this  time.  Mar 
garet  had  in  fact  taken  that  sort  of  fancy  to  her  which 
very  plain  and  practical  women  will  sometimes  take  to 
(hose  who  are  beautiful  and  whom  they  suspect  of  being 
unsettled  at  heart.  She  wished  in  some  way  to  help  her 
shift  through  with  her  beauty  and  sensibility  into  the 
superior  condition  of  homeliness  and  matter-of-fact- 
ness,  and  meanwhile  wove  about  her  that  romance 
which  nature  forbade  her  to  weave  round  herself. 

In  answer  to  a  letter  Rachel  told  her  she  was  glad 
to  hear  from  her  ;  was  glad  to  be  missed  ;  and  was 
sorry  to  have  dropped  so  suddenly  out  of  their  sum 
mer.  "  What  am  I  doing,  do  you  ask  ?  "  she  went  on. 
"  Realizing  my  dreams,  thank  you.  It  is  a  severe 
ordeal.  I  have  met  more  people  than  I  can  name  or 
recall  at  sight,  and  I  shift  from  one  engagement  to  an 
other  as  fast  as  I  can  get  ready.  At  first  I  thought  the 
visiting,  of  which  we  do  a  great  deal,  quite  tame,  but 
now  I  think  it  the  reverse  of  tame.  By  we,  I  mean 
my  aunt  and  me.  She  always  goes  with  me,  and  likes, 
I  think,  to  revive  her  social  accomplishments.  Formali 
ties  please  her  greatly,  and  when  I  want  to  be  alto 
gether  agreeable  I  call  her  madam.  Perhaps  most 
women  beam  upon  those  who  call  them  madam,  — do 
they  ?  She  regrets  the  fallow  years  I  spe  t  among  the 
hills,  my  walks,  my  rides,  my  everything  else  that  I 
mistook  for  enjoyment ;  and  commiserates  me  that  I 
had  never  had  any  engraved  cards  —  nothing  with 
Tuesdays  or  any  other  day  of  the  week  on  it.  But 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  179 

this,  and  some  of  my  other  glaring  deficiencies,  have 
long  since  been  made  up,  and  she  is  so  kind  as  to  want 
to  dispose  of  the  brief  remainder  of  my  wasted  days  in 
her  own  way.  She  is  even  more  kind  to  me  than  I 
would  be  to  myself,  and  takes  care  of  me  as  if  I  were 
something  very  fragile. 

"  We  keep  quite  an  open  house,  and  a  good  many 
visitors  invited  and  uninvited  come  every  day.  Some 
of  them  are  Mrs.  Cotter's  friends ;  some  of  them  their 
delightful  daughters,  and  some  a  club  of  young  men, 
calling  themselves  by  a  big  name,  and  doing  every 
thing  in  the  most  uniform  and  fire-department  manner. 
There  is  a  gentleman  here,  not  of  the  club,  who  says  he 
has  met  Mrs.  Sterling ;  a  Mr.  Hanna,  Jerome  Hanna, 
I  believe,  is  his  name.  He  lives  near,  and  seems  long 
to  have  been  in  Mrs.  Cotter's  favor.  He  does  a  great 
deal  to  please  her,  including  taking  me  to  ride  on  a  fine 
horse  that  he  calls  a  genuine  Hambletonian,  whatever 
that  is.  Not  to  know  the  merits  of  a  genuine  Hamble 
tonian  implies  great  ignorance,  I  infer.  He  was  here 
to  dinner  again  yesterday,  and  afterward  in  the  library 
he  asked  me  if  I  knew  the  origin  of  the  term  Welsh- 
rabbit.  I  hurried  and  said  No,  what  was  it  ?  but  just 
then  some  others  came  in,  and  I  did  not  get  to  hear. 
We  are  invited  to-morrow  to  his  mother's,  —  perhaps 
be  may  tell  me  there. 

';  All  this,  of  course,  is  an  old  story  to  you,  but  to 
me,  please  remember,  it  is  quite,  quite  new.  It  reminds 
me  of  former  occasions  when,  alone  years  ago  in  the 
garden  at  home,  I  played  the  great  lady  with  aunt  Han- 


180  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

uah's  parasol  above  me  and  trumpet  flowers  drawn  on 
my  fingers  for  gloves.  I  was  Anna  Cora  Mowatt  then, 
and  I  visited  Joan  of  Arc,  who  lived  on  a  flower-pot 
under  the  asparagus  bushes.  I  don't  know  who  I  am 
now,  and  I  meet  no  one  who  resembles  Joan.  I  like 
it,  yet  every  once  in  a  while  I  find  myself  wanting 
to  recreate  in  the  extensive  silence  about  my  home. 
Here  one  has  no  time  co  think,  and  I  am  not  accli 
mated  to  so  much  gayety. 

"  Among  other  things  my  aunt  is  soon  to  give  me  a 
party,  which  will  fill  both  the  house  and  the  yard,  —  I 
must  tell  you  about  the  yard.  There  is  very  little  of 
it  in  front,  and  that  little  is  filled  with  balconies  and 
railings  and  vases ;  but  back  of  the  house  there  is  a 
large  court,  full  of  fragrance  and  shade,  and  the  whole 
is  surrounded  by  a  brick  wall  ten  feet  high,  like  a  con 
vent  of  old.  Whenever  I  have  any  leisure  I  retire  to 
my  convent  with  my  uncle,  who  is  a  fine,  genial  gen 
tleman.  He  has  been  a  fine,  genial  gentleman  for 
seventy-five  years. 

"  Soon  after  the  party  we  are  going  to  the  Isles  of 
Shoals,  where  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cotter  go  every  year,  and 
after  that  I  am  going  home.  Sometimes  I  think  I 
must  go  before.  I  heard  a  priest  say  once  that  women 
always  want  to  be  where  they  are  not." 

It  happened  that  Halstead  heard  this  letter  discussed 
at  Mrs.  Anderson's,  where  he  sat  one  evening  meditat 
ing  upon  his  past  record  and  the  summer  scene  be 
fore  him.  In  the  course  of  it  he  remembered  that  he, 
too,  had  once  known  a  young  fellow  residing  in  that 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  181 

city,  and  pausing  a  moment  in  intent  retrospection  he 
recalled  his  name.  It  was  M.  D.  Short,  according  to 
his  signature,  and  Miss  Demeanor  Short,  according  to 
the  vernacular  of  his  club,  in  which  a  certain  rattling 
adventure  on  the  part  of  that  gentleman  had  once 
made  some  noise. 


XVI. 

THE  neighbor  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  came  to 
dinner  frequently,  and  indeed  his  relations  with  Mrs. 
Cotter's  family  seemed  to  be  such  as  would  admit  his 
presence  there  at  almost  any  hour  of  the  day  or  even 
ing.  He  seemed  to  Rachel  a  sort  of  social  cactus,  and 
she  wondered  that  her  aunt  should  take  pleasure  in 
cultivating  in  a  friendly  way  such  a  brown-stone-hot 
house  product.  He  lived  alone  with  his  mother,  who 
cherished  him  as  the  cactus  of  her  bosom,  and  they 
occupied  a  gloomy  penitentiary  across  the  way,  which 
was  surrounded  by  a  tall  iron  fence  and  an  osage- 
orange  hedge  to  keep  out  the  gaze  of  the  impudent 
populace. 

The  estate  as  yet  was  the  mother's,  and  she  regarded 
her  son  as  she  did  her  lands,  as  property  not  to  be  dis 
sipated,  or  to  pass  out  of  the  family  without  her  con 
sent,  but  as  he  was  forty  and  still  uninvested,  she  once 
conferred  with  Mrs.  Cotter  about  it. 

From  time  to  time  during  the  past  twenty  years 
Jerome  had  emerged  from  his  greatness  and  gloom  to 
pursue  for  a  season  the  acquaintance  of  some  young 
woman  who  caught  his  fancy,  but  even  that  as  a  rule 
did  not  last  long.  "  No  woman,"  he  once  declared, 
u  can  really  entertain  a  man  for  an  hour, — by  her 
conversation,"  and  men  he  sometimes  spoke  of  as  con- 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  183 

ceited  beggars.  Upon  the  whole  he  went  through  life 
lonely  and  suspicious,  like  a  man  with  a  lantern,  —  a 
lantern  that  illumined  a  small  circle  about  him,  but 
left  the  outer  darkness  peopled  with  shapes  all  more 
or  less  dubious.  He  did  not  approve  mankind.  He 
had  never  had  any  business  beyond  the  care  of  the 
family  property,  but,  though  content  with  mediocrity 
from  day  to  day,  he  was,  and  always  had  been,  a  great 
man  in  the  future.  Among  other  things,  he  meditated 
a  voyage  of  discovery  up  the  Nile,  an  article  on  Ca 
tholicism  in  the  "  North  American  Review,"  and  a  lect 
ure  on  finance  at  Cooper  Institute,  and  he  was  abo1-.; 
to  begin,  when  one  day  he  saw  Rachel  pass  the  lions 
opposite,  and  go  into  the  house.  He  waited,  but  she 
did  not  reappear,  and  he  shortly  made  an  excuse  to 
cross  the  street.  After  that  he  fell  into  a  habit  of 
going  over  there.  He  rode  horseback  with  her,  sent 
her  magnificent  flowers  from  the  greenhouse  and  bas 
kets  of  fruit  from  his  orchards,  in  all  of  which  she  saw 
a  high  and  mighty  form  of  neighborliness  from  the 
chief  friend  of  the  family.  It  had  much  to  do  with 
her  popularity,  since  the  young  lady  whom  Jerome 
Hanna  distinguished  became  at  once  an  object  of  in 
terest  and  solicitation,  —  and  had  not  Mrs.  Hanna,  who 
so  rarely  gave  dinners,  given  a  dinner  for  her  ? 

But  it  was  toward  the  night  of  Mrs.  Cotter's  party 
that  his  gifted  mind  came  to  a  focus  on  one  of  the 
minor  points  bearing  upon  a  great  career,  and  he  de 
termined  to  distinguish  that  evening  from  the  mass 
of  evenings,  as  he  distinguished  the  fair  Miss  Guerrin 


184  AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

from  the  mass  of  women.  The  old  house  was  com 
pletely  rejuvenated  on  that  occasion,  and  all  its  dark 
solemnity  hustled  out-of-doors,  even  beyond  the  high 
wall  encircling  the  brilliantly  lighted  court.  Rachel, 
radiant  with  an  irrepressible  bloom,  stood  near  her 
aunt,  talking  to  some  of  the  last  arrived,  while  Jerome 
watched  her  from  a  position  near  the  piano,  waiting 
for  the  moment  to  come  when,  her  duties  over,  he 
could  take  her  among  the  dancers,  or",  better  yet,  among 
the  Chinese  lanterns  in  the  garden,  under  whose  exotic 
auspices  he  would  bring  to  light  the  burden  of  his  soul. 
It  seemed  to  him  that  the  guests  would  never  assem 
ble,  and  that  they  were  greatly  in  excess  of  the  num 
ber  necessary  to  celebrate  his  intentions.  To  pass  the 
tedious  time  he  addressed  an  acquaintance  here  and 
there,  or,  relapsing  within  himself,  strolled  through 
the  thronged  and  decorated  rooms  as  if  they  were  an 
unbroken  solitude  ;  always  returning  beneath  Mrs, 
Cotter's  smiles  to  his  position  near  the  piano,  on  the 
top  of  which  instrument  he  beat  a  light  tattoo.  As  he 
stood  there  looking  at  Rachel  he  was  more  certain 
than  ever  that  she  suited  him:  slender,  yet  not  too 
slender ;  easy,  yet  not  too  easy  ;  vivacious,  yet  not  too 
vivacious  ;  with  something  in  her  sentences  like  intel 
ligence,  —  a  woman's  intelligence,  of  course,  not  cold, 
uot  bold,  —  at  that  very  moment  there  was  a  flush 
spreading  over  her  face.  And  then  a  slight  confusion 
occurred  among  Hanna's  ideas. 

A  stranger  entering  late  in  the  company  of  young 
Short  extended  to  her  an  immaculate  white  glove,  and 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLKR.  185 

a  voice,  to  which  her  color  had  never  been  wholly  in 
sensible,  said,  "  Good  evening,  Miss  Guerrin."  Her 
eyes  scarcely  rose  above  the  white  cravat,  certainly 
not  above  the  light  mustache,  and  then  she  introduced 
him  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cotter,  and  that  lady  frowned. 
Halstead  was  his  name,  and  she  said  he  was  from 
Beaudeck,  —  all  of  which  seemed  to  make  upon  young 
Short  a  profound  impression. 

Nathan  took  in  at  a  glance  the  costume  of  the  fair 
girl  before  him,  her  bare,  white  arms,  her  ardent  face, 
and  the  pale  roses  that  lolled  upon  her  bosom.  She 
was  a  country  girl  no  longer,  and  confronting  her  at 
his  full  height,  way  up  among  the  lights  of  the  chan 
delier  he  seemed  to  be,  he  felt  his  eye,  his  clear  mind's 
eye,  losing  sight  of  everything  within  the  rotundity  of 
heaven  except  the  woman  with  whom  he  was  in  love. 
He  was  slightly  pale,  and  there  was  a  new  mobility 
about  his  mouth,  but  excitement  of  that  sort  was  to 
him  only  an  intenser  self-possession,  and  the  critical 
observation  bent  upon  him  from  the  piano  could  see 
only  a  trim,  well-dressed  man,  wonderfully  at  home  in 
such  a  situation  for  an  inhabitant  of  Beaudeck. 

"We  have  heard  of  you  often,  Mr.  Halstead,"  said 
Mrs.  Cotter,  with  a  thin  and  too  intentional  smile. 

"  Have  you  ?  That  is  always  pleasant,"  answered 
Nathan. 

"  Not  always,"  she  responded. 

"  The  young  man  means,"  said  Mr.  Cotter,  "  that  it 
is  always  pleasant  to  hear  of  him,  in  which  I  think  he 
cannot  be  mistaken." 


186  AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  It  is  always  a  favor  at  any  rate  to  discover  a  mean 
ing  in  a  young  man's  weak  remarks,"  said  Halstead, 
turning  his  indescribably  genial  face  toward  his  host. 

Then  other  guests  arriving  they  stepped  aside  till 
Mrs.  Cotter,  touching  Halstead  on  the  arm  with  her 
fan,  asked  him  if  he  would  not  be  introduced  to  some 
of  her  friends. 

"  I  would  be  most  happy,"  said  that  diplomatic  fel 
low,  and  Rachel  being  left  thus  free,  Mr.  Hanna  im 
mediately  came  forward. 

"  You  have  a  friend  here,"  he  said,  as  he  offered  his 
arm  to  lead  her  through  the  long  drawing-rooms. 

"  I  have  several,"  replied  Rachel  briefly. 

"  But  one  from  Beaudeck,"  said  Jerome. 

"  He  is  from  Boston,  —  from  everywhere,"  said 
Rachel. 

"  He  does  not  live  in  Beaudeck  then  ?  " 

"  He  has  been  for  a  short  time  in  our  family." 

"  Is  the  arrangement  —  ah  —  permanent  ?  " 

"  On  the  contrary,  transient.  None  of  his  arrange 
ments  are  permanent.  There  are  a  great  many  people 
here,"  she  went  on,  looking  around  her,  "  and  my  aunt 
told  me  I  was  to  be  agreeable  to  everybody.  You 
must  tell  me  where  to  begin." 

"  You  are  to  begin  with  me,"  he  assured  her ;  "  did  n't 
she  tell  you  that  ?  There  is  my  mother,"  he  added, 
k'  you  might  begin  with  her  and  finish  with  me.  It  is 
a  triumph  to  please  my  mother.  She  is  the  most  pen 
etrating  of  women.  She  finds  you  out  like  an  east 
wind."  He  laughed  a  little.  Rachel  did  not  think  he 
had  a  pleasant  laugh. 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  187 

They  paused  before  a  mass  of  red  and  white  carna 
tions  which  some  florist  had  thought  proper  to  arrange 
in  the  form  of  a  huge  spheroid,  and  Hanna  made  a 
pretence  of  smelling  it.  "The  flowers,"  he  said,  "  are 
very  fine." 

As  they  turned  a  tall  and  imposing  woman,  with  a 
round,  white  and  deeply  lined  face,  rose  from  a  sofa 
near  by  and  made  a  slight  beckoning  motion,  inviting 
their  approach. 

"  I  have  been  wanting  to  see  you,  my  dear,"  she 
said,  as  Eachel  came  up.  "  You  will  excuse  an  old 
woman's  scrutiny  with  her  flattery.  You  are  looking 
well.  Jerome  should  be  delighted." 

"  I  am,  mother,"  he  replied  impressively. 

Rachel  speculated  upon  the  slim  connection  that 
could  exist  between  her  appearance  and  any  addi 
tional  delight  which  might  locate  itself  in  the  mind  of 
Jerome  Hanna,  but  before  she  shaped  her  idea  Mrs. 
Hanna  went  on,  fumbling  meanwhile  with  a  cascade  of 
ancient  lace  that  descended  from  her  throat.  "  Mrs. 
Cotter,"  she  said,  "  tells  me  that  this  is  your  first 
party." 

"  I  have  been  to  one  or  two  at  the  Falls,"  said  the 
young  debutante. 

"  The  Falls  ?  "  repeated  Mrs.  Hanna. 

"  Baker's  Falls,"  Rachel  explained. 

For  a  moment  there  was  a  cessation  of  the  lady 'a 
fumbling ;  then  it  began  again.  "  I  don't  think,"  she 
said,  "  that  I  ever  heard  of  Baker's  Falls." 

"  It  is  n't  a  very  large  place,"  said  Rachel,  smiling 
at  the  crudity  of  her  former  social  ventures. 


I8b  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  Probably  the  parties  were  not  very  large." 

"  Not  very,"  assented  the  girl. 

"  I  was  quite  sure  Mrs.  Cotter  told  me  this  was  your 
first,"  Mrs.  Hanna  affirmed.  "  I  am  sure  because  I 
was  glad  to  hear  it.  It  seems  to  me,  now,"  she  went 
on,  "  that  an  entire  absence  of  experience  is  better 
than  any  for  a  young  lady  to  begin  with,  —  at  least, 
better  than  any  she  would  be  apt  to  get  in  this  coun 
try.  I  used  to  think  that  there  was  nothing  like  a  few 
years  in  France,  but  the  last  young  lady  we  knew  — 
one  who  was  educated  a  short  distance  out  of  Paris  — 
committed  an  enormous  breach  when  she  came  back 
here.  All  rules  fail.  I  have  had  a  good  many  rules 
but  they  have  all  failed.  It  is  very  difficult.  I  am 
sure  you  must  "  — 

"You  forget,  mother,"  said  Jerome,  looking  at  his 
gloves,  "  the  lack  of  experience  on  which  you  are  con 
gratulating  Miss  Guerrin." 

"Her  appearance  makes  me  forget  it,"  said  Mrs. 
Hanna  blandly,  still  fumbling  at  her  lace.  "  Might 
we  not  sit  down  a  moment  ?  "  and  she  looked  behind 
her  at  the  sofa  she  had  vacated.  The  extreme  edge 
of  it  was  occupied  by  a  stout  young  woman  in  a  very 
tight  dress  who  immediately  rose  and  slipped  away. 

But  very  shortly  Rachel,  making  some  excuse,  left 
ihem,  crossed  a  portion  of  the  room,  and  went  up  to 
her  uncle  who  was  standing  by  the  mantel-piece. 

"  I  have  come  over  here  to  get  warm,"  she  said,  with 
an  open  smile. 

"  To  get  warm?  "  he  repeated,  looking  instinctively 
ut  the  closed  grate. 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  189 

"  I  have  been  with  Mr.  Raima  and  his  mother,"  she 
added.  "  Every  body  leaves  me  alone  when  I  am 
with  them.  I  wish  they  would  n't." 

"  Oh,  that  is  it,  is  it  ?  "  he  said  with  a  laugh.  "  Well, 
come,  we  will  go.  We  will  go  and  look  for  Mrs.  Cot 
ter  and  your  friend." 

"  I  don't  want  to  go  there,  either,"  she  replied. 

"  Not  there  ?  where  then  ?  "  he  asked ;  but  by  that 
time  several  younger  men  had  collected  round  her  bar 
ring  her  progress,  and  Halstead  again  went  by,  still  OR 
the  profitable  tour  which  was  to  acquaint  him  with  the 
acquaintances  of  the  Cotter  family. 

Halstead,  who  had  suffered  all  manner  of  restless 
ness  after  Rachel's  departure,  contended  severely  with 
himself  before  following  her,  making  up  his  mind 
finally  that  such  a  course  was  wholly  inadmissible  and 
out  of  the  path  of  reason ;  but,  fifteen  minutes  before 
the  train  left,  looked  at  his  watch,  and  finding  to  his 
great  alarm  that  it  was  so  late  hastily  packed  his  valise, 
and  with  a  nervous  chill  lest  tardiness  should  defeat 
him,  started  hurriedly  to  seek  a  further  respite  from 
the  torment  of  absence  which  had  so  racked  him. 
"  There  is  no  other  way,"  he  said,  which  was  the  for- 
rr,ula  he  always  used  when  temptation  was  too  strong 
for  him. 

The  first  thing  he  did,  after  his  arrival,  was  to  loot 
up  young  Short,  an  object  most  readily  accomplished 
by  lingering  upon  the  steps  of  the  principal  hotel  of 
that  not  over-grown  city ;  and  among  the  first  things 
that  young  Short  said  to  him,  after  mentally  reviewing 


190  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

his  distinguished  history,  and  casting  a  critical  eye 
over  his  trim,  alert,  and  well-dressed  figure,  was  that 
there  was  to  be  a  grand  fandango  there  that  evening, 
and  if  he  would  go  he  would  rejoice  to  introduce  him. 
"  I  will  make  a  lion  of  you !  "  he  cried,  "  a  lion  fresb 
from  the  jungles  ! "  And  after  consulting  the  time 
tables  Halstead  had  kindly  consented. 

And  now  he  was  there,  what  ?  The  outer  angle  of 
stair-case  was  piled  high  with  exotics,  and  from  some 
where  in  that  region  came  a  flood  of  waltzes ;  long  trains 
and  pretty  feet  delicately  shod  swept  over  the  floor,  and 
handsome  men  were  in  full  pursuit  of  beautiful  women 
in  evening  dress.  All  that  was  familiar  enough  to 
his  experience.  He  waltzed  occasionally  with  pretty 
damsels  he  had  never  seen  before,  —  it  was  generally 
a  bore  to  waltz  with  strange  damsels,  however  pretty, 
—  and  his  bland  partners  smiled  upon  him.  He  had 
always  been  smiled  upon.  Yet  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no 
one  there  labored  more  deeply  under  the  inexplicable 
but  fervent  intoxication  of  the  scene  than  he.  He  wore 
the  manners  of  composure  over  the  pulse  of  a  young 
roisterer,  and  carried  a  twofold  consciousness,  one  fold 
of  which  attended  to  the  minutia  of  ball-room  etiquette 
and  the  other  to  the  details  of  Rachel  Guerrin's  move 
ments.  While  he  moved  slowly  and  talked  calmly, 
great  currents  of  thought  and  feeling  surged  within,  and 
he  vaguely  wondered  at  the  mystic  serenity  that  sur 
rounded  his  intensely  palpitating  life.  He  seemed  to 
be  in  a  strange  atmosphere,  laden  with  imponderable 
things  that  quieted  his  body  and  excited  his  brain,  — 


AN    EARNEST   TRIFLER.  191 

music,  fragrance,  passion;  and  he  felt  himself  all  afloat 
save  for  one  remaining  cable,  —  his  sense  of  what  was 
due  from  man  to  woman  in  the  way  of  social  ball-room 
conventions,  —  a  cable  that  would  hold  until  such  time 
as  Rachel  might  be  disengaged  and  he  saw  a  chance  to 
join  her.  And  after  that  what  ?  After  that  might 
come  what  would.  He  was  a  trifle  reckless.  He  was 
to  conduct  himself  with  care  to  her  side  ;  she  was  to 
take  his  arm  ;  and  his  responsibility  in  this  cold  and 
circumspect  life  was  to  end  when  the  weak  vessel  that 
contained  him  drew  so  near  that  she  might  lay  her  hand 
upon  him. 

Meanwhile  he  drifted  about  with  a  young  lady  in 
a  glory  of  orange  faille  and  point  applique,  who  was 
strongly  commended  to  him  by  his  friend  Short.  Short 
called  her  Isabel,  and  introduced  her  as  Miss  Flood,  a 
detail  to  which  Halstead  felt  strangely  indifferent.  It 
seemed  to  him  almost  superfluous  to  name  her,  since 
she  would  serve  his  turn  as  well  without  a  name.  Be 
side,  he  knew  her  ;  he  had  always  known  her,  or  some 
one  so  like  her  that  discrimination  was  unnecessary. 
She  was  bright ;  she  was  incisive  ;  she  had  had  years 
of  balls.  She  was  so  gayly  self-assured  that  she  could 
spare  her  wits  from  home  to  play  among  her  neigh 
bors,  and  she  treated  him  with  immeasurable  frankness 
to  anecdotes  illustrative  of  human  maladroitness.  She 
picked  up  her  train  without  the  least  fussiness  with 
reference  to  her  petticoats,  and  recovered  the  ends  of 
her  yellow  braids  with  equal  unreserve ;  while  at  sup 
per,  where  she  ate  a  great  deal,  she  Ireated  her  appetite 


192  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLEB. 

with  the  same  freedom  she  bestowed  upon  the  amiable 
foibles  of  her  friends.  It  was  during  supper  that  she 
first  distinctly  attracted  Nathan's  notice  as  a  clear  and 
definite  individual.  They  were  sitting  at  one  of  many 
little  tables  upon  a  wide  porch  extending  across  the  rear 
of  the  house.  At  one  end  of  the  porch  was  a  conserva 
tory  where  a  fountain  played,  some  palm-trees  grieved, 
and  some  poor  relations  of  the  banana  family  found  ref 
uge,  and  at  the  other  end  steps  descended  to  the  lighted 
court ;  while  within  the  long  windows  of  the  parlor 
there  was  the  continuous  whirl  of  the  dancers.  They 
were  near  one  of  the  windows,  and,  as  the  oriole-colored 
Isabel  devoured  her  peaches,  Halstead  permitted  his 
glance  to  wander  over  the  floating  population  in  the 
rooms. 

"  Who  is  the  gentleman,"  he  said,  "  with  the  porten 
tous  eyebrows  ?  " 

"Talking  to  Miss  Guerrin?" 

"  Yes." 

"  He  !  why  that  is  Mr.  Hanna.  You  have  surely 
heard  of  the  great  Hannas  !  here  two  hours  and  asking 
who  Jerome  Hanna  is !  He  is  devoted  to  the  young 
lady  with  Mrs.  Cotter's  approval." 

"  Who,  and  what,  is  he  ?  What  must  a  man  be  to  be 
so  approved  ?  " 

"  He  belongs  to  an  old  family,  a  family  of  mummies, 
embalmed.  They  were  sitting  in  their  niches  here 
when  the  town  was  discovered,  and  by  some  pre-his- 
toric  right  owned  all  the  land.  He  is  rich,  cultivated, 
—  it  would  be  a  pity  to  think  that  one  so  rich  was  n't 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  193 

cultivated,  —  and  can  do  what  he  pleases ;  which  is 
nothing  as  yet.  We  are  holding  our  breaths  and  wait 
ing  for  him  to  begin." 

"  Aurora  !  "  exclaimed  Halstead. 

"  You  may  well  say  Aurora  !  "  assented  Miss  Flood. 

"  What  is  left  to  desire  ?  " 

"  A  wife,  I  believe.  It  is  thought  fit  that  he  should 
have  a  wife,  aad  they  have  bee*n  selecting  her  this 
many  a  day.  Mrs.  Cotter,  you  see,  has  it  in  her  power 
to  make  her  niece  very  desirable  over  and  above  her 
personal  attractions.  It  may  make  a  match ;  he  pro 
poses  to  some  one  every  other  summer,  and  this  is  the 
propitious  season." 

"  What  becomes  of  his  propositions  then  ?  " 

"  They  fall  with  the  leaf.  He  reconsiders  them,  or 
his  mother  objects.  He  has  a  perpetually  objecting 
mother.  This  time,  however,  it  stands  a  chance  of 
being  final.  Mrs.  Cotter  and  Mrs.  Hanna  conspire ; 
you  and  I  conspire ;  all  who  are  here  conspire ;  that 
is  what  this  party  is  for.  The  gentlemen  are  here  to 
show  him  off  to  advantage,  and  the  ladies  that  she  may 
shine  by  comparison.  It  will  all  be  settled  between 
them  before  the  evening  is  over,  with  our  assistance. 
Will  you  call  a  waiter,  please  ?  I  will  have  some 
grapes,  —  Delawares,  - —  I  always  prefer  the  Dela- 
vrares." 

This  little  dialogue  struck  Halstead  somewhat  heav 
ily,  so  that  once  or  twice  within  the  ten  minutes  fol 
lowing  he  lost  himself  in  vagueness  and  rallied  only 
with  an  effort.  And  later,  when  a  large  gentleman,  per- 


194  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 


ceptibly  over-heated,  claimed  the  hand  of  Miss  Flood, 
he  strolled  down  into  the  court  to  collect  himself  under 
the  influence  of  the  cooler  air.  He  went  on  through 
a  long  arbor  covered  with  grape-vines,  and  past  rows 
of  neatly  trimmed  raspberries  that  grew  along  the 
the  wall,  till  he  came  to  the  lower  end  of  the  inclosure. 
Here,  a  little  aside  from  the  path  and  under  a  low- 
drooping  tree,  was  a  seat  toward  which  he  directed  his 
steps  ;  but  with  the  fatality  attending  those  of  whom 
stories  are  told  found  some  one  there  before  him. 

"  I  thought  this  bench  was  unoccupied,"  he  ex 
plained. 

It  was  Jerome  Hanna  who  rose,  and  each  saw  with 
chagrin  his  own  image  in  the  face  of  the  other.  "  Be 
seated,"  said  the  darker  image  politely.  "  It  is  cooler 
out  here." 

"  Your  cigar  is  out,"  said  the  other,  as  if  he  had 
been  seeking  a  place  to  smoke.  "  Allow  me  to  offer 
another." 

"  Thanks,  I  don't  smoke.  I  came  here  for  comfort. 
It  is  what  one  does  n't  often  find  at  parties  or  they 
would  be  more  endurable.  No  man  should  counte 
nance  them  after  he  is  twenty." 

"  I  take  it  we  came  with  full  knowledge  of  what 
awaited  us,  bringing  our  years  with  us,"  Halstead  ob 
served. 

"  It  is  a  concession  that  we  make  to  women,"  said 
Hanna.  "  It  is  n't  till  the  woman  question  is  settled 
with  him  that  a  man  can  show  what  stuff  he  is  made 
of." 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  195 

"  The  sooner  he  settles  it  then  the  better,"  carelessly 
asserted  image  number  two. 

Number  one  agreed  with  him.  "You  are  a  stranger 
here,"  he  added  abruptly.  "  A  friend  of  the  young 
lady  who  visits  the  house.  So  she  told  me." 

"  In  whose  honor  we  recreate  at  midnight  under 
Mr.  Cotter's  fig-tree.  I  don't  know  but,  all  things  con 
sidered,  we  might  honor  her  in  a  more  appropriate 
fashion." 

"  There  are  half  a  dozen  round  her  now,  never 
fear." 

"  The  best  man,"  declared  Nathan,  "  will  be  a  favor 
ite  of  fortune." 

Jerome  rose  with  a  short  laugh.  "  Are  you  going 
in  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  Presently,"  Halstead  replied,  seating  himself  for 
the  first  time  ;  but  when  Hanna  had  disappeared  he 
too  went  in.  He  felt  himself  a  strong  man,  who  could 
smile,  if  he  chose,  at  the  pretensions  of  an  arrogant 
rival,  but  who,  if  he  would  smile,  must  first  show  his 
strength. 

When,  after  a  circuit  of  the  rooms,  —  a  circuit  which 
always  remained  in  his  mind  a  blank,  —  he  discovered 
Rachel,  she  had  gone  into  the  supper-room  witt 
Hanna,  and  he  was  obliged  to  wait  again.  He  next 
saw  them  near  the  entrance  to  the  conservatory, 
where  a  couple  in  passing  had  stopped  to  speak  to 
them,  and  advancing  he  joined  the  group.  Jerome 
turned  with  the  unreadiness  of  manner  which  results 
when  one  is  recalled  from  personal  affairs  to  socJil 


196  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLEB. 

blandishments,  and  in  the  first  pause  Halstead  offered 
Rachel  his  arm,  murmuring  something  about  a  walta 
then  in  progress. 

"It  has  been  intolerable  in  the  village  since  you 
left,"  he  said,  leading  her  away.  "  I  had  to  follow  you 
to  find  a  place  that  was  not  intolerable." 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  she  answered,  fanning  herself. 

"  Are  you  glad  to  see  me  ?  —  that  is  the  question. 
You  have  not  said  so." 

"  I  am  too  astonished  even  to  be  polite  yet." 

"  I  don't  know  why  you  should  be." 

Rachel  did  not  answer,  and  coming  to  the  end  of  the 
porch  Halstead  desired  her  to  go  down. 

"  Surely  we  have  had  enough  of  gardens,"  she  said. 
"  We  did  not  come  from  Beaudeck  to  stroll  in  a  gar 
den.  There  is  another  sort  of  garden  on  the  carpets 
inside.  We  might  go  in  and  walk  on  the  Axminster 
nosegays."  She  seemed  to  wish  to  treat  him  lightly 
and  simply  as  at  first,  but  he  knew  and  she  knew  that 
when  the  simplicity  was  real  they  strolled  in  the  gar 
den  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Halstead  did  not  smile,  and  made  no  motion  to  turn 
back.  "  You  are  not  sincere,"  he  said.  "  That  sounds 
as  if  you  had  made  great  progress.  No  woman  of  the 
world  could  turn  a  refusal  more  neatly  than  that." 
And  any  one  to  look  at  him  might  have  thought  he 
was  talking  about  the  Chinese  lanterns.  He  gave  no 
cause  for  gossip  among  the  passers. 

"  I  have  made  bold  to  come  and  see  you,"  he  said 
"  Perhaps  I  have  made  too  bold  ?  " 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  197 

"  I  was  not  expecting  you,"  she  declared. 

"  Will  you  be  at  home  soon  ?  " 

"  In  a  few  weeks." 

"So  long  as  that!" 

He  was  much  in  earnest.  She  was  beginning  to 
doubt ;  to  doubt  his  lightness  this  time,  and  it  filled 
her  with  vague  alarm. 

He  descended  a  step  or  two.  "  Did  you  mean,"  he 
began,  "  to  break  off  our  acquaintance  when  you  came 
away,  or  what  did  you  mean  ?  Did  you  think  a  day's 
journey  would  put  an  impassable  distance  between  us, 
or  what  did  you  think  ?  I  have  not  seen  you  since  I 
lost  you  on  the  mountain.  It  seems  to  me  that  in  sin 
cerity,  and  in  the  respect  we  accord  our  friends,  you 
owe  me  a  little  less  abruptness.  Is  it  not  possible  that 
you  have  done  me  some  injustice  ?  " 

He  held  out  one  honest  hand  to  lead  her  down, 
pointing  with  the  other  to  the  court  below.  What  had 
he  to  say  to  her,  so  late  ?  Gay  groups  of  gayly  dressed 
people  fluttered  about  through  the  inclosure ;  the 
music  careered  through  the  shrubbery ;  and  he  stood 
waiting,  pointing  with  eloquent  gesture. 

"  Come,"  he  said,  as  one  whose  urgency  precluded 
paltry  excuse  ;  and  Rachel  descended  among  the 
throng. 

'  You  ought  to  show  me  over  your  convent,"  he 
iaid  And  then  to  Rachel's  relief  they  began  talking 
of  it  lightly  as  if  it  were  a  convent. 

"  And  you  are  to  stay  here  yet  for  weeks  ? "  he 
presently  asked.  "  When  you  return  the  summer 


198  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

will  be  gone.  I  will  be  gone.  Everything  will  be 
changed." 

"  That  sounds  like  my  reason  for  coming,"  she  re 
plied. 

"  Did  you  mean  it  ?  Did  you  wish  it  to  be  so  ?  "  he 
cried.  "  Do  you  think  it  ever  really  fair  to  abandon 
in  a  twinkling  those  who  are  attached  to  us?  You 
should  have  told  me  you  were  going.  You  should 
have  left  some  message.  Did  you  suppose  I  would 
consent  to  an  end  like  that  ?  I  have  come.  I  love 
you.  What  do  you  do  with  those  who  love  you  ?  " 

"  Is  it  for  to-night  ?  "  said  Rachel,  "  or,  for  to-night 
and  to-morrow  too  ?  "  And  again,  although  apprehen 
sion  seized  her,  she  seemed  to  wish  to  defeat  his  ear 
nestness  by  her  smile. 

If  she  did  she  was  wholly  unsuccessful.  They  had 
reached  the  end  of  the  walk.  Halstead  stopped,  re 
leasing  and  facing  her,  and  the  wary  eentiments  which 
for  years  had  held  him  let  go  their  grip.  "  I  love 
you,"  he  said.  "  I  cannot  do  without  you.  Marry 
me,  Rachel." 

Her  gathering  apprehensions  pressed  closely  upon 
her,  and  she  covered  her  face  with  her  hands.  She, 
then,  was  the  one  at  fault.  Hers  the  unready,  recalci 
trant  heart !  Hers  the  inactive  conscience  !  Hers  the 
obliquity,  She  had  herself  done  that  of  which  shf 
had  been  accusing  him. 

"  I  love  you,"  he  went  on  ferven.ly.  "  I  nave 
come.  I  am  here  knocking  at  the  sacred  common 
door  and  eager  to  get  in.  It  is  the  prison  of  prisons. 
Marry  me,  Rachel." 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  199 

The  girl  let  fall  her  hands  and  looked  at  him  breath 
lessly.  "  Did  you  come  to  tell  me  this  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered,  lying,  without  a  qualm  and 
without  a  sign.  "  I  came  to  tell  you."  He  smiled 
faintly  down  upon  her  flushed  and  ardent  face.  "  I 
tell  you,"  he  said,  "  because  you  are  dear  to  me,  and 
my  days  and  nights  are  full  of  you,  —  because  there  is 
a  fatality  among  men  to  love  women,  —  it  came  to  us 
long  ago  and  will  pursue  us  forever.  There  is  no  es 
caping  it.  It  is  strongest  of  all,  and  our  plans,  our 
ideas,  and  all  that  puny  category  burn  up  in  it  like 
wisps  in  a  bonfire.  Tell  me  that  you  love  me ;  tell 
me  that  you  will  marry  me,  and  then  "  — 

He  moved  nearer  her  and  his  eyes  shone  down  upon 
her  like  stars  in  hot  weather. 

Her  look  was  still  searching  him.  Somehow  it 
seemed  to  her  that  he  talked  a  great  deal.  Then,  "  I 
had  quit  thinking  of  you,"  she  said. 

"  Your  opportunity  is  over,"  he  cried.  "  You  must 
begin  and  think  of  me  again." 

"  I  don't  know  what  to  think,"  she  replied.  Indeed, 
there  seemed  to  be  inextricable  confusion  within. 

Halstead  narrowed  his  eyelids,  wondering  at  the 
coldness  he  did  not  expect,  but  looking  at  the  lolling, 
throbbing  roses  on  her  bosom.  "  There  is  no  longer 
occasion  for  you  to  analyze  me,"  he  said.  "  You  know 
me  well.  Think  of  me  warmly.  Let  me  kiss  you  and 
think  of  that,  —  or  better  still,  cease  to  think,  and  love 
me." 

Other  voices  were  coming  near  and  she  seemed  to  be 
listening  to  them  rather  than  to  him. 


200  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  To-morrow  all  may  be  different  again,"  she  finally 
said. 

"You  are  afraid,"  returned  Halstead,  still  confi 
dently,  though  feeling  a  creeping,  physical  disappoint 
ment,  as  she  drew  away  from  him.  "  This  is  only  the 
beginning.  To-morrow  and  to-morrow  and  to-morrow 
you  will  see  the  reality  of  it.  They  have  not  in 
volved  you  m  any  other  scheme  down  here,  have 
they  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  know  that  they  have  tried." 

"  Don't  you  ?  Well,  they  have.  "What  is  it  you 
doubt  ?  Which  of  us,  —  you  or  me,  Rachel  ?  "  He 
would  have  taken  her  hands,  but  she  put  them  again 
to  her  face  for  a  moment ;  then  waived  them  in  adieu, 
and  ran  into  the  house  by  a  back  entrance. 

The  young  man  did  not  smile.  "  She  is  afraid,"  he 
assured  himself. 

For  the  next  hour  Halstead  lingered  in  Rachel's 
near  vicinity,  and  though  he  neither  addressed  or  ap 
parently  observed  her,  he  made  her  keenly,  vividly 
conscious  of  those  currents  of  strife  and  passion  which 
flow  through  such  seemingly  complacent  assemblies. 
She  seemed  to  have  put  her  thoughts  aside  for  future 
consideration.  But  of  Hanna  she  would  have  none. 

The  last  carriage  drove  away  with  its  limp  load  and 
its  sleepy  coachman.  The  bass  viols  were  wrapped  in 
their  green  baize  cerements  ;  the  violins  laid  in  their 
caskets  ;  and  the  fat,  red-faced  musicians,  disorganized 
and  dispirited,  shuffled  mournfully  away,  as  if  the  last 
sad  r.tes  had  been  performed,  and  they  could  turn  once 
moro  to  cheerfulness  and  peace. 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  201 

"  It  has  been  a  great  success,"  said  Mrs.  Cotter,  "  a 
great  success  ! " 

And  Rachel,  going  to  her  room,  mechanically  re 
peated,  "  A  great  success." 

She  went  to  her  window  and  leaned  out  to  get  the 
night  air.  She  was  n't  very  familiar  with  the  air  of 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  was  deadly  quiet. 
The  very  breezes  seemed  asleep.  Presently  the 
watchman  passed,  striking  the  curbing  here  and  there 
with  his  mace  ;  and  close  upon  his  heels  followed  a 
second  and  a  much  more  vigilant  walker,  who  stopped 
in  the  shadow  and  looked  up  at  the  window  where 
Rachel  leaned,  still  in  her  silken  party  attire.  She 
rose,  took  off  her  gloves,  catching  sight  of  herself  hi 
the  glass  under  the  soft  chandeliers  ;  then  put  out  the 
lights  and  threw  herself  in  a  deep  easy  chair  ;  her  face 
in  her  hands,  her  dress  trailing  over  the  rugs. 

Everything  in  that  gray  dawn  seemed  strange  and 
doubtful  and  complicated. 

Presently  a  little  twittering  began  to  stir  in  the 
throats  of  many  birds.  The  light  began  to  tinge  the 
clouds.  The  yellow  tuneful  flood  spread  over  the  sky 
and  fell  into  the  street.  And  in  the  new  day  all  the 
incidents  of  the  evening  seemed  made  of  the  warp  and 
woof  of  a  fete  rather  than  the  warp  and  woof  of  se 
rious  life. 

The  sun  grew  warm,  the  singing  wild  ;  and  Rachel, 
still  at  the  window,  forgot  the  unreal  entanglements 
which  had  made  the  night  both  terrible  and  festal,  and 
fell  peacefully  asleep,  the  sunshine  floating  over  her 


202  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

bright-hued  dress,  —  over  the  roses  in  her  hair  and  on 
her  bosom. 

Halstead  had  fully  intended  to  return  the  next 
morning,  but  the  time  for  the  train  came  and  went, 
leaving  him  still  in  his  room.  The  streaks  of  morn 
ing  sunlight  that  lay  across  the  floor  when  he  first 
awoke  slowly  receded  under  his  distrait  gaze,  and  it 
was  high  noon  before  he  roused  himself  sufficiently  to 
recall  the  hour,  to  rise,  dress,  and  saunter  down  to 
breakfast. 

In  the  hall  he  met  young  Short,  who  accosted  him 
in  lively,  jovial  tones.  But  Halstead  put  his  hands  to 
his  ears  in  mock  protest,  and  motioned  him  away. 
"  Softly  !  "  he  said.  "  Let  me  down  easy.  I  am  just 
up  and  the  daylight  tastes  like  warm  water.  Where 
was  it  you  took  me  last  night  ?  " 

"  The  very  waiters  shall  talk  poetry  to  you,"  said 
Short,  "  if  you  will  come  in  and  dine  with  me." 

But  Nathan  declined,  and  had  recourse  again  to  the 
time-tables  ;  after  which  he  sought  his  solitary  cup  of 
coffee. 

In  the  afternoon,  however,  he  saw  Rachel  drive  past 
the  hotel  in  a  landau,  and  immediately  the  necessity  of 
seeing  her  again  was  forced  upon  him.  He  idled 
about  waiting  for  the  carriage  to  reappear,  but,  disap 
pointed  in  that,  waited  till  the  fine  line  of  a  new  moon 
floated  in  the  west,  and  then  betook  himself  in  her  di 
rection.  A  sable  servant  admitted  him,  and  he  was  at 
once  struck  by  the  different  aspect  everywhere  pre 
sented. 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  203 

Every  vestige  of  the  festive  decorations  had  disap 
peared,  and  it  was  difficult  to  believe  they  had  ever 
been.  Mrs.  Cotter  was  there  conferring  with  a  plaint 
ive  widow  in  black,  and  bowed  to  him,  as  he  after 
ward  expressed  it,  from  the  top  of  the  Himalayas. 
Rachel  was  shaking  hands  with  a  gentleman  and  lady 
whom  he  did  not  remember  to  have  seen  before,  but 
with  whom  he  had  recently  talked  during  an  entire 
quadrille  ;  and  a  youth  was  talking  with  Miss  Flood 
by  the  window.  The  latter  rose  at  his  approach  with 
such  cordiality  as  might  have  led  a  conceited  man  to 
suppose  she  was  there  in  the  hope  of  seeing  him,  and 
he  at  once  joined  them,  taking  a  share  in  the  conver 
sation  but  keeping  himself  informed  by  some  secret 
process  of  Rachel's  every  attitude.  "  And  to  think," 
he  reflected,  "  that  till  recently  she  was  watching  the 
cattle  on  the  hills  grow  into  money."  He  meditated 
upon  her  successful  transfer  to  the  social  medium,  and 
thought  he  would  like  to  have  her  always  adorning 
just  such  fine  and  truly  stately  parlors,  full  of  com 
pany  and  light.  Where  the  fine  and  truly  stately  par 
lors  were  to  come  from  no  longer  troubled  him.  He 
had  the  sublime  and  lover-like  faith,  that  where  his 
sweetheart  was  there  the  parlors  would  be. 

It  soon  became  plain  that  he  would  not  be  able  to 
see  her  alone,  so,  even  before  the  necessity  of  the  time 
tables  demanded,  he  rose  to  take  his  leave.  He  was 
much  more  tranquil  than  he  had  been  the  evening  be 
fore.  The  edge  was  taken  off  his  eagerness.  Indeed, 
he  preferred  to  look  upon  his  success  as  ultimate  rather 


'2!)4  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLEB. 

than  imminent,  and  for  some  fastidious  reasons  relished 
the  idea  that  she  did  not  drop  into  his  hands  with  too 
willing  precipitation. 

"  I  must  go,"  he  managed  to  say  to  her.  "  I  am 
about  to  leave  Beaudeck,  but  will  go  there  to  see  you 
as  soon  as  I  may  when  I  learn  you  are  there.  I  hope 
you  will  believe  me  in  earnest.  I  shall  continue  to 
hope  for  you." 

It  afterward  struck  her  as  strange  that  a  man  should 
assure  the  woman  he  asked  to  marry  him  that  he  was 
in  earnest.  In  earnest !  What  else  could  he  be  ? 


xvn. 

ONE  evening,  a  few  days  later,  when  the  callers  had 
gone,  Mrs.  Cotter  came  softly  back  into  the  parlor. 
She  dressed  with  great  care  at  this  time,  and  had  a 
Boftly-bustling,  interested  manner,  as  if  something  were 
going  on. 

"  Rachel,"  she  began,  not,  however,  as  if  the  matter 
were  of  much  importance,  "  I  have  asked  Mr.  Hanna 
to  go  with  us." 

"  To  go  with  us  where  ?  "  inquired  her  niece. 

"  To  the  Shoals,"  replied  Mrs.  Cotter,  straightening 
the  furniture  for  the  night.  "  He  said  he  would,  with 
thanks.  He  seemed  quite  willing.  I  think  he  ex 
pected  it." 

"  My  dear  aunt,"  said  Rachel,  presently,  with  some 
confusion,  "  I  do  not  think  that  I  can  go." 

"  Not  go  !  " 

"  I  think  I  must  go  home." 

The  lady  hesitated  a  moment.  Then,  "  My  child, 
you  are  crazy,"  she  said,  with  benevolent  toleration. 
''  Or  perhaps  you  are  only  tired.  Go  to  bed.  We 
tvill  think  of  it  to-morrow."  There  was  something  in 
Rachel's  voice  she  did  not  like. 

The  next  morning,  however,  she  returned  promptly 
to  the  subject. 

"  I   don't  understand,"   she   said,  more  confidently 


206  AN   EARNEST    TEIFLER. 

than  she  felt,  "  what  the  trouble  is.  It  is  n't  that  you 
do  not  want  the  gentleman  to  go,  is  it  ?  " 

"  He  can  go  or  not,"  rejoined  Rachel,  in  the  same 
tone  she  had  used  the  night  before.  "  You  are  very 
kind,  but  I  think  I  must  go  back." 

"  Of  course  he  would  n't  go  if  you  did  n't ;  but  you 
must  see  yourself  that  you  might  carry  matters  a  little 
too  far.  You  can't  rely  too  much  on  him.  He  has  to 
be  treated  well.  With  him  one  girl  is  about  as  good 
as  another,  he  has  seen  so  many  ;  and  if  you  are  rather 
prettier  than  common  you  must  n't  put  him  too  much 
out  of  the  way.  He  might  not  go  to  Beaudeck." 

"  I  hope  he  never  will,"  said  Rachel. 

Mrs.  Cotter,  who  was  repairing  a  minute  defect  in  a 
napkin,  paused  a  moment  at  this  inscrutable  assertion, 
and  then  went  on  again,  softly  and  quickly,  as  if  she 
would  forestall  in  her  niece  any  precipitancy  of  resolve. 
*'  My  dear  child,"  she  began,  "  what  is  the  matter  ? 
You  should  be  a  little  moderate,  a  little  cautious.  I 
don't  want  to  pry  into  your  affairs  before  you  came 
here,  but  I  was  in  hopes  you  had  never  had  any  that 
would  interfere  with  your  prospects.  I  have  inquired 
about  Mr.  TTalstead,  too.  It  seems  that  he  saw  a  great 
deal  of  a  Madam  Somebody  in  Paris.  He  spent  a 
great  deal  of  money  there,  they  say,  —  more  than  he 
could  well  afford.  There  are  a  great  many  men  like 
him  in  the  cities,  though  not  perhaps  with  all  his  ad 
vantages.  They  are  not  usually  marrying  men  unless 
you  take  them  very  young  or  very  old,  and  he  is  nei 
ther  very  young  nor  very  old." 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  207 

"  He  is  not  in  Beaudeck,"  said  Rachel  positively. 
"  He  has  gone  away." 

"  I  am  sure,"  resumed  the  lady,  as  if  after  a  slight 
and  mistaken  digression,  "  that  you  have  had  every 
thing  your  own  way.  At  the  Shoals  you  might  be  still 
more  popular.  I  must  say,  though,  that  your  manner  is 
rather  distant  at  times.  Mr.  Hanna  said  himself  that 
your  manner  was  not  quite  encouraging,  —  though  you 
cannot  always  tell  from  a  girl's  manner,  —  he  realizes 
that.  There  is  a  great  deal  said  against  coquettes.  I 
have  said  a  great  deal  against  them  myself.  But  with 
out  saying  anything,  everybody  knows  that  it  is  a 
great  deal  worse  to  have  no  offers." 

"  It  is  too  ridiculous,"  said  Rachel.  "When  it  comes 
to  that  I  hate  it." 

"  Oh,  they  don't  mean  anything  by  it  half  the  time. 
They  don't  really  expect  it  to  come  to  anything.  I 
am  afraid  you  are  expecting  something  deep.  You 
may  have  read  too  much.  You  must  take  men  as  they 
are.  They  are  none  too  good  ;  but  nine  chances  out 
of  ten  the  best  man  is  the  one  who  can  make  you  the 
most  comfortable.  There  is  n't  a  better  house  in  the 
city  than  Mr.  Hanna's,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  there  is  n't 
a  better  man.  If  you  had  been  differently  raised  you 
would  see  it  so ;  Jerome,  I  think,  is  serious." 

"  I  don't  want  to  have  anything  to  do  with  him," 
the  girl  insisted.  "  I  never  will." 

"  There  is  young  Garrotson,"  suggested  Mrs.  Cotter, 
experimentally."  He  is  rather  dissipated,  but  his 
father  is  a  very  fine  man." 


208  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  I  don't  think  he  wishes  me  to  marry  his  father.** 

"  He  admires  you  very  much,"  said  the  lady  sooth 
ingly. 

"  I  believe  it  makes  me  a  little  sick,"  said  Rachel. 

"  What  makes  you  sick  ?  " 

But  she  did  not  seem  to  find  it  easy  to  define  at  once 
whence  her  sickness  rose.  "  It  will  be  a  blow  to 
Jerome,"  continued  her  aunt.  "  He  is  n't  used  to  it. 
The  very  best  girls  we  have  accept  him." 

"  And  then  what  ?  " 

"  If  it  is  n't  one  thing  it  is  another.  His  mother  is 
hard  to  please." 

Rachel  made  no  comments  on  this  astonishing  fre 
quency  of  events  she  was  accustomed  to  regard  as  ex 
ceptional,  and  from  her  silence  Mrs.  Cotter  took  hope. 
"  We  might,  at  least,  go  to  the  Shoals  and  have  him 
follow  us,"  she  said ;  "  then  if  you  should  refuse  him 
people  would  at  least  know  it.  As  it  is  they  may 
think  he  is  at  his  usual  tricks.  Next  to  accepting  him 
nothing  could  start  you  better  than  to  be  known  to 
have  refused  him." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Rachel,  "  that  when  I  love 
any  one  I  shall  know  it.  I  don't  want  to  be  pretend 
ing  or  trying." 

"  You  don't  love  Mr.  Halstead  then  !  I  was  afraid, 
—  I  did  n't  know,  —  I  could  n't  help  seeing  that  you 
wrote  to  him  a  day  or  two  ago  ;  and  you  have  n't  been 
in  your  usual  spirits." 

The  young  girl's  face  colored  up  in  the  usual  man 
ner,  perhaps  resenting  such  forcing  of  her  confidence. 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  209 

But  Mrs.  Cotter  did  not  so  interpret  it.  She  looked 
at  her  closely,  her  own  face  undergoing  a  change  of 
expression,  and  then  went  on  with  her  minute  repair 
ing.  "  I  did  not  get  you  soon  enough,"  she  said  regret 
fully.  "  It  will  be  a  severe  lesson  —  more  severe  than 
it  ought  to  be  for  the  first.  And  it  will  take  a  great 
deal  of  your  time.  You  should  have  told  me  you  were 
engaged  to  him." 

"  I  am  not  engaged  to  him,"  said  Rachel,  violently. 

And  again  Mrs.  Cotter  glanced  up.  "  My  poor 
child,"  she  repeated,  "  I  did  not  get  you  soon  enough." 

"  I  don't  want  to  marry  him  any  more  than  I  want 
to  marry  Mr.  Hanna,"  affirmed  her  niece. 

This  was  very  puzzling.  The  lady  had  never  known 
just  such  a  case.  She  had  always  had  a  feeling  that 
her  protege  was  a  trifle  difficult  to  understand,  to  ad 
vise,  and  to  lead,  but  she  had  not  realized  till  now  what 
she  had  undertaken.  She  was  as  a  leader  who  had  not 
yet  found  the  leading-strings,  and  who  could  only  sport 
a  little  timidly  about  the  pretty  erratic  creature  she 
would  control.  "  You  are  not  in  love  with  the  vil 
lage  minister,  or  anything  like  that  ?  "  she  finally  in 
quired. 

"  No,"  said  Rachel,  growing  more  laconic  and  more 
fiorid. 

"You  are  a  queer  girl,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Cotter,  in 
whose  mind  queerness  covered  a  great  deal  of  ground. 
"  Perhaps  you  have  refused  him,"  she  went  on  making 
one  more  venture.  "  And  he  may  have  made  yon  feel 
unpleasantly.  Of  course  he  would  make  something  of 
14 


210  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLEB. 

a  fuss.  My  dear  lamb,  you  could  not  hurt  either  of 
them  much.  Their  hearts  would  recover  long  before 
your  conscience.  In  some  things  you  are  very  inapt" 

As  she  spoke  the  door  opened,  and  Mr.  Cotter  en 
tered,  his  boots  freshly  blacked,  his  face  newly  shaven, 
and  the  morning  papers  under  his  arm.  Rachel  went 
over  to  him,  her  face  brightening,  but  he  instantly 
perceiv  id  by  a  glance  at  his  wife  that  something  was 
amiss. 

When  the  trouble  was  explained  to  him,  he  hemmed, 
smiled,  and  rolled  his  papers  into  their  ultimate  com 
pass.  "  Quite  right,  quite  right,"  he  said.  "  The  girl 
knows  what  she  is  about.  Let  her  suit  herself.  I 
would  rather  like,  myself,  to  see  her  take  Hanna  down 
a  peg,  but  if  she  is  too  good  for  it  we  can't  insist.  I 
believe  in  letting  her  do  what  she  likes.  She  won't  be 
apt  to  do  much  better  by  doing  what  somebody  else 
likes." 

And  on  the  occasion  of  a  subsequent  visit  the  irre 
sistible  Jerome  Hanna  found  to  his  intense  surprise 
that  he  was  no  more.  He  had  tested  his  powers  one 
season  too  many,  and  found  a  foolish  young  woman 
to  whom  his  wealth,  his  prestige,  his  brains,  and  his 
melancholy  person  were  as  nothing  ;  so  he  retired  once 
more  into  seclusion,  and,  with  the  point  of  a  neatly 
f-harpened  pencil,  traced  out  the  route  to  Karnak,  thence 
onward  to  the  fresh  waters  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza. 
If  he  could  lose  himself  in  Africa  he  might  yet  be 
a  happy  man,  a  free  man,  a  man  without  a  mother, 
without  pretensions  to  sustain,  without  obligations  to 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  211 

genius,  —  and  in  this  forecasting  of  the  future  he  was 
almost  glad  that  Rachel  was  so  blind.  He  made  up  his 
mind  to  start  in  December.  In  the  mean  time  he  would 
write  some  political  papers.  Women  were  never  in 
sensible  to  fame. 


XVIIL 

AT  the  last  small  station  before  reaching  Beaudeck 
Rachel  looked  eagerly  out  from  the  car  window.  The 
bridge  was  there  and  the  net-work  of  ropes,  but  there 
was  no  one  about,  whom  she  knew :  and  neither  was 
there  any  one  at  the  depot  when  she  arrived  at  home. 
The  train  was  late  and  she  was  not  expected.  She 
almost  wished  that  she  had  written. 

As  the  stage  stopped  in  front  of  the  house  she  fan 
cied  there  was  some  one  watching  her  from  the  window 
of  the  wing,  but  she  did  not  look  again  to  assure  her 
self,  and  ran  quickly  up  the  steps.  Even  within  she 
asked  few  questions  of  the  ladies  who  welcomed  their 
beautiful  offspring,  but  kissed  them  demonstratively 
and  ate  her  supper  with  smiling  cheerfulness.  She 
inquired  where  her  father  was,  but  her  father  was  not 
at  home.  Except  to  the  eye  of  faith  there  was  no  one 
at  home  save  the  three  ladies. 

It  was  late,  and  Miss  Hannah  had  already  remarked 
upon  the  dissipation  of  the  hour,  when  Rachel  crossed 
the  dark  hall,  and  standing  in  the  open  door  looked 
out  upon  the  mountains.  The  branches  of  the  elms 
swayed  gently  to  and  fro,  and  some  whirling  bats  made 
their  swift  excursions  round  the  upper  columns.  The 
half  moon  was  shining.  A  light  was  also  shining  in 
the  wing,  and  Rachel,  her  lips  half  -  parted,  leaned 


AN  EARNEST    TRIFLER.  213 

against  one  of  the  pillars,  breathing  the  soft,  illumined 
air. 

There  was  a  step  across  the  porch,  and  starting,  hes 
itating,  she  slipped  back  through  the  passage  to  the 
parlor,  but  had  scarcely  reached  it  when  Dayton  en 
tered. 

She  did  not  advance  to  meet  him,  but  stood  rooted  io 
the  floor  while  he  crossed  the  intervening  distance.  He 
looked  like  a  man  who  suppressed  more  joy  than  he 
showed,  and  saying  something  about  her  return  took 
her  hand.  Her  fingers  were  quite  cold. 

"  I  saw  you  come,"  he  said.  "  You  had  an  ominous 
twist  to  your  veil." 

"  Ominous  ?  "  she  replied,  finding  her  voice. 

"  Stylish,  or  dainty,  or  something,"  he  explained, 
still  holding  hei  hand,  —  "  as  if  you  had  gone  over  to 
the  fashionable  world  whence  no  woman  ever  willingly 
returns." 

"  I  am  very  fashionable  now,"  she  declared. 

But  there  was  a  flutter  about  her  that  stirred  his 
heart  to  see.  He  was  not  to  be  discouraged.  "  What 
brings  you  home  just  now?"  he  asked.  "  You  are  ahead 
of  your  time  We  had  prepared  our  patience  for  an 
other  two  weeks.  We  were  to  wear  along,  you  know, 
till  sometime  next  month.  Did  the  Isles  of  Shoals  £Q 

o 

down  ?   I  believe  I  heard  that  they  were  swamped." 

"  I  did  not  go  to  the  Isles  of  Shoals,"  said  Rachel. 
She  seemed  to  think  that,  in  view  of  the  fact,  she  might 
be  accorded  the  privilege  of  reserving  her  reasons. 
But  Dayton  had  no  generosity. 


214  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 


"  Why  not  ?  "  he  inquired.  "  Did  you  grow  incon 
stant  to  your  aunt  ?  Or  did  you  feel  a  little  sickness 
for  your  mountains  ?  I  have  heard  that  people,  the 
Swiss,  for  instance,  pined  when  away  from  their  homes. 
Do  you  suppose,  Miss  Guerrin,  that  any  absence  could 
make  you  pine  ?  " 

Rachel  opened  her  fan,  a  new  and  large  one,  with 
bulrushes  on  a  pink  ground,  and  held  it  open  against 
her  breast. 

"  I  ran  out  of  money,"  she  said,  with  reluctant  in 
vention. 

Dayton  rather  doubted  the  validity  of  this  excuse, 
but  disappointed  in  that  direction  began  immediately 
in  another.  "  I  was  afraid,"  he  remarked,  "  that  you 
would  not  come  till  we  had  gone.  Some  of  us  have 
gone  already,  —  did  you  know  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Rachel,  "  I  knew.  Where  did  they 
go?" 

He  tried  to  recall  the  small  matter  of  their  exact 
locality,  looking  at  the  face  which  appeared  above  the 
bulrushes.  "  Miss  Duncan,"  he  finally  remembered, 
"  has  gone  home.  Halstead  went  West." 

"  West !  " 

"  Yes.  He  thinks  of  going  West  to  stay.  He  dis 
solved  with  me.  He  has  grown  ambitious.  I  could  n't 
keep  him  any  longer." 

Rachel's  thoughts  seemed  to  go  West  too,  distress 
ingly  ;  and  to  bring  them  nearer  home  he  looked  about 
for  seats.  "  Tell  me  about  your  visit,"  he  said  ab 
ruptly,  taking  one  near  her. 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  215 

"  Well,  what  about  it  ?  "  she  asked,  leaning  forward, 
*ud  resting  the  hand  that  held  the  fan  across  a  table. 

"  I  don't  care  to  know  that  you  drove  to-day,  dined 
in  state  yesterday,  and  danced  the  night  before,  —  you 
are  not  a  slip  on  which  such  programmes  are  printed, 
like  most  pleasure-seekers  ;  I  want  to  know  the  effects 
you  have  brought  away  with  you." 

"  It  was  like  riding  an  elephant,"  she  said,  with  a 
smile  which  was  preeminently  un-Desborough-like. 

"  Good !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  I  am  glad  it  was  as  an 
elephant  you  liked  it." 

"  I  am  afraid  you  expect  me  to  say  that  I  found 
society  hollow.  But  I  did  n't.  I  never  found  any 
thing  yet  which  was  hollow." 

"  What  was  it  full  of  ?  "  he  inquired.  "  Tell  me 
about  its  virtues  and  its  peccadillos.  I  have  had  some 
experience  in  its  vices." 

"  I  have  been  gone  five  years,"  she  declared. 
"  Do  you  find  me  much  changed  ?     Am  I  wrinkled  ? 
Am  I  very  gray  ?  "  —  and  he  smoothed  his  hair  behind. 
"  You  are  somewhat  gray,"  she  said,  looking  at  his 
head,  but  not  meeting  his  eyes. 

"  But  I  am  still  a  young  man,"  he  asserted.  "  My 
eyes  are  young.  My  ear-drums  are  young;  and  I 
have  the  immoderation  which  belongs  to  youth." 

Rachel  took  no  notice  of  the  intemperance  of  his 
manner,  and  her  eyes,  which  shone  over  the  top  of  the 
bulrushes,  steadily  sought  the  figures  of  the  ancient 
wall-paper.  "  I  should  not  have  thought,"  she  said, 
turning  the  conversation  back  a  little,  "  that  you  had 
had  much  experience  in  its  vices." 


216  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

Dayton  assured  her  he  had  had  a  share  of  that  com 
mon  misfortune,  and  she  wished  to  know  where  his  so 
cial  experience  had  been.  He  told  her  in  San  Fran 
cisco. 

"  Were  you  dissipated  ?  "  she  inquired.  "  Have  you 
great  powers  of  alternation  ?  " 

"  I  have  no  great  powers,"  he  disclaimed. 

"  Did  you  float  about  ?  "  she  went  on  ;  "  and  were 
you  engaged  to  a  great  many  girls  off  and  on,  — 
charmed  for  an  afternoon  and  heart-broken  for  a  couple 
of  minutes  ?  Were  you  what  they  call  complicated,  — 
good  and  bad,  serious  and  not  at  all  serious,  in  beauti 
ful  patchwork  ?  " 

Her  remark  seemed  to  bear  upon  something  which 
had  come  under  her  own  observation  rather  than  upon 
him,  and  he  did  not  answer.  He  looked  at  her  in 
stead  with  devouring  eyes. 

"  1  should  think,"  she  said,  "  that  if  you  were  bad, 
you  would  be  very  much  so,  and  if  you  were  good,  you 
could  not  very  well  be  otherwise." 

"  Well,  which  is  it  ? "  said  Dayton,  who  was  not 
much  given  to  considering  his  moral  status,  —  "  heads 
or  tails  ?  " 

"  At  any  rate,"  continued  Rachel,  "  there  would  be 
some  depth  to  it." 

"  A  man  does  not  want  to  be  too  good,"  observed 
Dayton  ;  "  it  is  not  poetic." 

"  No,  not  poetic.  You  are  not  exactly  poetic,"  de 
clared  the  girl.  "  Nobody  has  ever  made  you  rhyme." 

"  Are  you  going  to  ?  "  he  asked. 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  217 

u  Am  I  ?  "  she  repeated,  suddenly  rising. 

Dayton  followed  her  to  the  door  where  she  seemed 
desirous  of  looking  out  upon  the  night,  and  descending 
a  step  brought  his  face  upon  a  level  which  interfered 
with  her  observation.  He  seemed  to  be  a  very  large 
man  as  he  stood  there  obscuring  the  moonlight. 

"  We  are  to  be  friends,"  he  said  hoarsely.  "  You 
have  not  forgotten  that  ?  " 

"  We  could  n't  very  well  be  anything  else,"  said 
Rachel  logically. 

"  We  are  to  be  what  you  will,"  he  cried,  —  "  what 
you  will." 

And  then  he  left  the  night  unobscured. 

Later,  as  he  walked  restlessly  about,  he  saw  the  light 
from  Rachel's  window  falling  upon  the  grass,  and  went 
out  under  the  elms  near  where  it  fell.  About  his  neck 
he  had  twisted  a  handkerchief  which  she  had  left  in 
the  hall,  and  stretching  himself  full  length  upon  an 
old  settee  he  smiled  up  at  the  stars. 

The  dream  was  upon  him. 


XIX. 

THE  following  week  ran  its  '•apid  course. 

Every  evening  Dayton  saw  Rachel  more  or  less 
alone,  with  no  one  to  warn  him,  no  one  to  check  him, 
no  one  to  interfere  with  him,  and  nothing  whatever  in 
his  hopeful  way.  Mr.  Guerrin,  when  at  home,  was  some 
times  silently  beseeching  under  his  assiduity,  but  Day 
ton  looked  joyfully  upon  it  as  a  favorable  omen,  and 
even  had  the  hardihood,  once,  to  remind  him  of  their 
earlier  conversation.  "  You  know  what  I  am  about," 
he  said,  "  and  you  cannot  blame  me  if  after  all  I  should 
succeed.  It  is  possible  that  in  time  I  may  succeed." 

Halstead  had  gone.  That  was  the  chief,  the  glaring 
fact.  He  had  gone  to  the  iron  regions  "West,  and  many 
men  who  went  to  the  iron  regions  West  never  again 
disturbed  the  serenity  of  the  East.  "Whatever  his  affin 
ity  for  Rachel  had  been  it  had  resolved  into  separation, 
and  Dayton  was  satisfied  to  rest  upon  it.  His  day  had 
come  and  he  would  make  use  of  it,  irresistibly  if  possi 
ble,  to  secure  his  happiness,  sure  that  in  the  end  he 
could  secure  hers. 

The  securing  of  that  happiness,  however,  even  with 
out  intervention,  seemed  as  difficult  as  it  was  delicate  ; 
and  while,  for  purposes  of  genial  comradeship,  Rachel 
seemed  ready  to  bestow  her  society  upon  him,  he  always 
found  himself  derided,  cheated,  swindled  in  some  way 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  219 

out  of  his  passionate,  imperative  moods.  He  never 
knew  how  it  was  done,  or  why  the  designs  that  were 
in  him  failed  to  find  expression,  but  blessed  even  while 
baffled  the  time  wore  on,  and  he  submitted  with  a  sort 
of  tragic  intensity  to  the  influences  that  delighted  and 
tormented  him.  She  had  a  way  of  suddenly  summon 
ing  a  third  party  into  their  walks,  and  a  way  of  treat 
ing  him  as  an  auxiliary  to  her  more  absorbing  occupa 
tions.  She  was  never  so  busy,  and  never  had  so  much 
company  from  the  village.  She  permitted  him  to  fol 
low  when  she  went  with  the  Dan  Drueys  to  the  orchard 
where  the  yellow  apples  came  softly  thumping  about 
them  on  the  sod.  She  let  him  go  with  her  to  do  her 
errands,  getting  out  of  the  carryall  every  fifteen  rods. 
But  she  let  nothing  interfere  with  her  important  duties. 
She  sewed  with  zeal.  When  there  was  nothing  else 
she  fanned  herself  with  passion.  She  came  and  went 
unexpectedly,  and  left  him  when  he  thought  they  had 
hours  before  them.  Indeed  he  could  never  keep  her 
with  him  very  long  at  a  time.  She  made  little  excur 
sions  with  him  out  from  the  porch  in  the  starlight,  but 
these  excursions  seemed  as  short  and  fleeting  as  the  ex 
cursions  made  by  the  bats. 

Once,  when  he  had  vainly  endeavored  to  Inre  her  out 
of  the  sitting-room,  where  she  was  persistently  playing, 
he  went  back  to  the  wing  and  waited  till  he  saw  her  go 
out  with  a  book  to  the  farther  end  of  the  portico,  where 
there  were  some  easy  chairs  and  rugs  spread  over  the 
flag-stones.  Then  he  went  through  the  parlor,  and 
coming  upon  her  corner  seated  himself  without  speak 
ing. 


220  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

Rachel  read  on  for  a  page  or  so,  but  presently  half 
closed  her  book  as  if  induced  to  do  so  from  considera 
tions  outside  her  will. 

"  It  can't  be  helped,"  said  Dayton,  gravely,  seeming 
aware  of  her  motion  without  taking  his  eyes  from  the 
landscape.  "  I  have  no  compunctions.  I  would  not 
hesitate  at  such  a  little  thing  as  persecution.  I  impose 
myself  upon  you  without  a  scruple.  You  are  at  a 
great  disadvantage  in  having  such  good  manners.  If 
you  were  a  shrewish,  rude  woman,  now,  I  could  not 
browbeat  you  in  this  way.  Perhaps  I  would  n't  wish 
to.  But  being  slight  and  refined,  I  don't  stop  at  any 
thing.  I  can't  afford,  you  know,  to  neglect  any  tricks, 
even  the  most  nefarious.  Do  you  know  I  have  been 
here  four  months  ?  " 

Rachel  submitted  to  be  thus  browbeaten  without 
great  resentment,  but  perhaps  she  did  not  wish  to  con 
cede  to  him  all  the  advantage  that  he  claimed.  "  There 
are  many  ways,"  she  said,  "  by  which  a  woman,  even 
the  most  polite  and  fragile,  may  excuse  herself." 

He  took  her  book  as  she  spoke  and  opened  it  where 
her  finger  had  been.  "  You  were  on  page  one  hundred 
and  fifteen,"  he  said,  laying  it  down  on  the  other  side 
of  him.  "  Do  you  know  I  have  already  been  here  four 
months  ?  " 

"Four  months,  have  you?"  she  replied,  resorting 
for  occupation  to  her  fan.  "  Four  months,  after  all,  is 
&  very  short  time." 

'*  Short  for  what  ?  "  asked  Dayton  bluntly.  "  Great 
events  may  happen  in  much  less  time.  A  man  dies  in 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  221 

a  mcment.     I  have  heard  that  in  a  twinkling  he  maj 
fall  heir  to  eternal  blessedness." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  she  said,  "  that  time  is  very  long 
There  are  oceans  of  it." 

"  And  it  seems  tc  me,"  he  rejoined,  "  that  there  is 
very  little  left.  "Were  you  never  in  any  haste  ?  Was 
there  never  anything  for  which  it  taxed  all  your  powers 
to  wait  ?  I  half  believe  you  dread  a  change,  a  rupture, 
a  scene." 

"  Indeed,"  ?he  answered,  flushing  warmly  and  gen 
eralizing  coolly,  "  I  think  that  for  most  things  which 
happen  we  would  do  well  to  wait." 

He  took  from  her  hands  the  fan  with  which  he  had 
shared  her  attention,  giving  an  air  of  inadvertence  to 
his  touch  upon  her  fingers.  "  Do  you  think  very  much 
of  this  trifle  ?  "  he  asked,  bending  forward. 

"  No,"  she  answered,  simply  enough ;  "  I  bought 
some  prettier  ones  when  I  was  away." 

"  Then,  perhaps,"  he  said,  "  you  will  give  it  to  me." 
And  putting  his  thumb  in  the  middle  of  the  sticks  he 
snapped  them  in  two.  "  It  is  wonderful,"  he  went  on 
over  the  fragments,  "  the  amount  of  industry  that  can 
be  put  into  the  handling  of  a  fan  !  Is  it  such  a  nice 
operation  that  all  one's  heart  should  go  into  it?  It 
seems  to  me  that  one  might  run  a  much  more  elaborate 
machine  with  less  solicitude." 

And  he  looked  at  her  as,  if  seeking  for  toleration  oi 
his  violence.  "  You  should  at  least  leave  me  the  pleas 
ure  of  fanning  myself,"  she  presently  observed. 

"  At  least !  "  he  repeated,  with  deprecating  cynicism- 


222  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"It  wears  a  beautiful  dress.  Its  color  comes  and 
goes,  and  it  fans  itself  for  pleasure  with  a  pink  fan. 
What  life,  what  a  range  of  feeling  it  has  ! " 

But  Rachel  was  not  by  such  means  to  be  betrayed 
into  warmer  sensibilities.  She  would  rather  see  him 
angry  than  to  see  him  fervent.  She  was,  indeed,  some 
thing  more  than  half  afraid  of  the  vehemence  which 
he  but  half  concealed  under  his  gentleness,  and  she 
knew  how  feeble  were  the  checks  that  she  could  im 
pose  upon  it.  He  never  lost  a  step  he  gained,  and  he 
gained  a  little  every  day.  "  One  is  sometimes  reduced 
to  great  straits,  you  know,  sir,"  she  replied,  growing 
white  in  spite  of  herself.  "  You  forget  that  I  came  out 
here  to  read.  You  are  unreasonable." 

"  Yes,"  he  assented,  "  I  am  unreasonable.  If  I  were 
reasonable  I  would  be  happy  to  sit  here  three  or  four 
feet  away  from  you  while  you  read  and  kept  yourself 
cool.  But  I  am  not  reasonable." 

She  rose,  and  he  thought  for  a  moment  that  she  was 
going  away,  but  she  only  crossed  over  to  the  nearest 
pillar,  and  coming  back  resumed  her  place.  It  was 
plain  that  she  was  willing  to  linger  with  him  in  the 
deep  twilight,  and  looking  at  her  brilliant  face  he  felt 
assured  that  however  she  might  refuse  to  listen  to  his 
ambitious  passion,  it  did  not  so  far  offend  her  that  she 
could  not  find  life  exquisite  in  its  close  proximity.  He 
felt  sure  she  understood  him,  sure  he  understood  her : 
and,  after  all,  what  wonder  was  it  that  a  fresh,  young 
girl  should  resist  the  stranger  who  at  best  must  crush 
her  freshness  against  his  heart.  He  would  perhaps 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  223 

have  constrained  himself  to  endure  much  longer  the 
poignant  delight  of  her  nearness  and  distance,  permit 
ting  her  to  grow  used  to  him  and  imposing  upon  her 
a  slower  familiarity  ;  but  the  season  of  his  opportunity 
was  shortening  ominously. 

"  Do  you  know,"  he  said  shortly,  as  if  in  explana 
tion  of  his  importunity,  "  that  my  work  here  is  almost 
finished  ?  " 

It  had  in  fact  been  done  three  days. 

"Where  are  you  going  then?"  inquired  Rachel, 
with  quicker  interest  than  she  had  yet  shown. 

"  I  cannot  say.  It  hangs  by  a  thread.  I  think  some 
of  continuing  on  the  line,  and  some  of  going  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands." 

"  The  Sandwich  Islands  !  "  exclaimed  the  girl. 

"  Well,  call  it  South  Africa,  then,"  he  suggested. 
"  In  the  mean  time  it  is  not  surprising,  is  it,  that  I 
should  depend  upon  you  to  ameliorate  my  last  days  in 
Christendom  ?  What  else  could  you  expect  of  even  a 
reasonable  man  who  was  closeted  with  you  hi  so  small 
a  town  as  this  ?  There  is  n't  much  to  entice  one  out 
into  the  village,  you  know." 

"  It  does  not  look  very  inviting  from  here,"  remarked 
Rachel,  looking  up  the  road. 

"  It  is  as  deserted  as  a  private  race-track  or  a  tem 
perance  billiard  saloon,"  said  Dayton,  following  hor 
glance. 

"  What  do  you  know  of  private  race-tracks  and  tem 
perance  billiard  saloons  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Upon  my  soul,  nothing,"  he  disclaimed,  as  if  any 


1  »     • 

224  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

Connection  with  those  peculiar  institutions  were  par 
ticularly  compromising. 

"  I  suppose  your  acquaintance  is  with  the  other 
sort." 

"  It  strikes  me  now,"  said  Dayton,  "  that  I  have 
heretofore  called  some  very  gross  and  dull  amusements 
pleasure.  The  real  article,  it  seems,  has  a  peppering 
of  anguish  in  it."  '"• 

"  What  will  you  do  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  ?  "  she 
inquired. 

"  Heaven  only  knows,"  he  answered.  "  I  may 
never  go.  My  mind  does  n't  work  clearly  on  that  pos 
sibility.  Go  ?  I  do  not  mean  to  go.  I  have  an  idea 
of  a  home  with  the  stars  shining  on  it  all  night  —  like 
this." 

Rachel  did  not  dare  to  look  at  him.  "  But  if  you 
should  ?  "  she  persisted,  pulling  at  a  rose-tree. 

"  I  am  not  going,"  he  declared.  He  moved  nearer. 
He  had  a  violent  consciousness  of  her  nearness,  and  of 
her  lips,  which  had  been  smiling  and  now  were  trem 
bling. 

"  I  believe  I  must  go  in,"  said  the  girl,  rising  and 
looking  over  her  shoulders  as  women  do  when  they 
suspect  a  ghostly  chill  of  striking  them. 

"  You  must  have  a  shawl,"  he  cried.  "  Let  me  bring 
you  one  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Rachel.     "  I  will  get  it." 

'•  You  will  not  come  back." 

"  Not  to-night,  I  think,"  she  answered  gently. 

Dayton  glowered  at  the  elm-trees,  detaining  her 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER.  225 

then  loosened  his  hold  upon  her  hand.  "  I  never  spent 
such  days  as  these,"  he  presently  said  more  gently. 
"  If  they  ever  end  it  will  be  with  a  terrible  shock.  I 
am  not  used  to  it.  I  am  believing  in  you  deeply,  de- 
liciously.  You  could  deceive  me  like  a  charm.  Don't 
dare  be  polite  to  me  without  a  purpose.  I  beg  of  you 
don't  smile  this  way  unless  you  mean  it.  What  you 
say  must  be  true  forever,  and  if  you  look  at  me  you 
must  swear  to  it.  It  is  as  much  as  my  life  is  worth  for 
you  to  let  your  color  come  and  go  for  nothing.  And 
if  you  are  happy  you  must  have  an  immense  resource 
of  wretchedness  behind  it  in  case  the  happiness  fails. 
Y"ou  are  smiling  now.  You  are  fairly  happy.  Lord ! 
how  I  count  upon  such  simple  things  as  that ! " 

"  I  know  it,  sir,"  she  answered  simply  and  fer 
vently. 

And  remaining  behind  among  the  bats  and  columns 
where  she  left  him,  he  smiled  in  a  warm  and  broad  and 
in-spite-of-all  fashion,  blessing  himself  with  that  expect 
ant  happiness  which  is  so  greatly  in  excess  of  happi 
ness  itself.  The  wintriness.  and  rigors  had  gone  out 
of  him.  He  was  like  a  hard-working  man,  abandoned 
to  the  grace  of  noon.  He  watched  the  tender  light 
caress  the  hills  ;  he  listened  to  the  sentimental  cries  of 
the  whippoorwills ;  he  considered  the  solitary  set  in 
families,  and  believed  that  he,  too,  might  yet  become 
a  part  of  the  jovial,  lusty  world. 

The  next  evening,  after  Rachel  had  walked  once  or 
twice  up  and  down  the  path  with  only  her  Gordon  set 
ter,  she  went  to  the  side  portico  and  knocked  at  the 

15 


226  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

door.  "  Are  you  not  coming  ?  "  she  asked,  as  Dayton 
opened  it.  "  It  is  a  beautiful  evening." 

"  Yes,  I  am  coming !  "  he  cried.  But  he  had  meant 
not  to  go.  He  had  been  afraid  of  taking  too  much 
for  granted.  And  at  the  first  pause  that  beautiful  girl 
had  knocked  at  his  door  !  That  knock  was  certainly 
honest.  And  her  eyes  were  altogether  honest.  She 
wanted  him. 

They  had  not  gone  far,  however,  when  they  met  a 
carriage  containing  Mrs.  Sterling  and  Louise  Mason 
coming  up  the  drive,  and,  with  some  growling  on  Day 
ton's  part  to  which  Rachel  would  not  assent,  they 
turned  back. 

"  Mrs.  Sterling,"  she  said,  as  they  followed  the  car 
riage  back  to  the  house,  "  is  a  charming  woman." 

"  Is  she  ?  "  returned  Dayton,  reluctantly.  "  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  know  a  charming  woman  when  I  see 
one." 

"  Then  I  might  as  well  not  be  charming !  "  ex 
claimed  the  girl  with  a  laugh.  But  she  never  looked 
at  him  when  she  made  a  remark  like  that. 

When  Mrs.  Sterling  returned  home  somewhat  late 
that  night,  Joseph  Anderson  handed  her  a  letter.  She 
read  it  carefully,  then  read  it  again  and  folded  it  with 
contracted  brows. 

"  Louise,"  she  said,  "  Nathan  will  be  back  to-mor 


row 


Louiso  dropped  into  a  chair  by  the  window.    "  Well, 
let  him  come,"  she  replied. 

"  And  why  here  ?     Why  here  from  some  point  in 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  227 

Missouri !  He  could  see  us  nearly  as  soon  at  home,  if 
that  is  what  he  wants." 

"  Perhaps  that  is  not  it,"  suggested  Louise. 

"  He  may  imagine  that  we  are  going  to  stay  some 
time  longer,"  pursued  Mrs.  Sterling.  "  He  does  not 
know  that  we  intend  to  leave  the  day  after  to-morrow. 
Do  you  think  we  can  get  off  as  soon  as  that  ?  I  don't 
want  to  stay  any  longer,  and  I  don't  think  Nathan 
especially  needs  the  country  air.  Too  much  country 
air  dulls  one's  wits.  I  '11  telegraph  him  the  first  thing 
to-morrow  that  we  will  meet  him  in  Boston,  and  then 
he  can  come  or  not,  as  he  chooses." 

"  He  generally  does  as  he  chooses,"  rejoined  Miss 
Mason,  with  her  desolated  smile. 

"I  should  have  telegraphed  to-night,"  pursued  Mrs. 
Sterling.  "  What  an  unconscionable  time  we  stayed 
down  there  !  Rachel  Guerrin  seems  very  innocent. 
She  is  not  at  all  innocent.  She  is  smarter  than  any  of 
us.  I  would  have  great  respect  for  her  if  I  were  not 
afraid  of  her." 

Early  the  next  morning  Mrs.  Sterling  drove  briskly 
through  the  town  to  the  depot,  in  whose  recesses  the 
iclegraph  office  was  secreted.  The  place  was  closed, 
ind  there  was  no  one  to  be  seen  except  a  philosophical 
supernumerary  who  sat  in  the  sun  near  the  water-tank, 
and  whose  office  was  apparently  to  keep  the  secrets  of 
the  road  and  prevent  the  station  and  tank  from  being 
stolen  by  suspicious-looking  individuals,  like  the  one 
who  now  presented  herself  before  him. 

"  Where  is  the  telegraph  operator  ?  "  she  inquired. 


228  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

"  He  ain't  here,"  replied  the  man,  resuming  his  study 
of  the  river,  as  if  the  subject  contained  no  further  in 
terest  for  him. 

"Where  can  I  find  him?" 

"  Home,"  explained  the  fellow,  still  on  the  defensive. 
He  had  evident  contempt  for  the  feverish  impatience 
that  resorted  to  the  telegraph  when  there  were  such 
worlds  of  time  for  more  rational  communication. 

But  Mrs.  Sterling  was  not  discouraged.  "  Where 
does  he  live  ?  "  she  persisted. 

"  Yonder,"  he  replied,  nodding  toward  the  north 
pole. 

And  finally  learning  that  the  homestead  in  question 
was  a  few  farms  away  in  the  northeast  distance,  she 
started  hurriedly  in  that  direction,  and  toiled  up  to  a 
cottage  on  the  summit  of  a  distant  hill,  where  she 
again  asked  for  the  operator. 

"  He  is  out  in  the  fields,"  said  the  woman.  "  But  if 
you  want  to  send  a  dispatch,  you  can  write  it  here,  and 
he  '11  see  to  it  when  he  comes  up  to  dinner."  And  she 
deposited  some  paper  and  a  bottle  of  blue  mould  on 
the  kitchen  table,  like  a  person  who  knew  that  business 
was  business. 

Amazed  at  the  deliberateness  that  waited  upon  elec 
tricity  in  that  region,  Mrs.  Sterling  explained  that  it 
was  a  matter  requiring  the  greatest  haste,  and  finally 
sxicceeded  in  dispatching  a  boy  across  the  fields  for  his 
delinquent  parent. 

Yet  when  the  train  came  in  that  night,  Ilalstead 
alighted,  his  hat  drawn  over  his  eyes,  his  head  as  erect 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  229 

as  tlie  sky-scraper  of  a  clipper  ship,  and,  getting  into 
the  stage,  caused  himself  to  be  driven  past  the  Des- 
borough  place  and  up  the  north  road. 

"  Nathan,"  began  his  sister,  when  she  saw  him  alone 
for  a  moment  after  supper,  "  did  you  get  my  telegram 
this  morning?  " 

"  Your  telegram  ?  "  he  said  indifferently. 

"  We  are  going  back  to-morrow.  I  thought  you 
might  not  care  to  come  for  so  short  a  time." 

"  My  dear  friend,"  he  returned,  after  reviewing  her 
critically  for  a  moment,  "  nothing  would  have  pre 
vented  my  coming.  You  mistake  the  pretext  for  the 
reason.  I  had  a  profound  desire  to  come." 

"  Louise  "  —  she  ventured  — 

"  Had  nothing  to  do  with  it,"  he  interrupted,  extin 
guishing  the  faint  hope. 

"  You  have  come  a  long  way." 

"  Do  you  call  this  long  ?  You  don't  know  the 
lengths  I  am  prepared  to  go." 

"It  is  not  difficult,  then,  to  guess  the  goal  for  which 
?ou  have  set  out." 

Halstead  shrugged  his  shoulders  in  a  way  to  indicate 
his  keen  perception  of  the  strange  extremity  to  which 
he  was  driven.  "  It  might  be  well,"  he  said  deliber 
ately,  as  if  picking  the  words  from  the  tree  of  knowl 
edge,  "  if  I  had  never  come  here  ;  yet  having  come,  I 
must  go  through  the  chain  of  consequences.  I  have 
tried  to  resist  it.  I  ran  away  from  it  every  other  day 
all  summer,  but  nevertheless  I  followed  her  to  the  city, 
and  here  I  am  following  her  back.  She  is  too  beau- 


230  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

tiful  for  me.  I  don't  marry  because  I  want  to,  you 
know.  I  marry  because  I  am  in  love." 

"  You  will  regret  it,"  warned  his  sister,  with  de 
spair.  Indeed,  the  family  of  this  gay  young  man  re 
garded  his  vocation  in  life  as  similar  to  that  of  the 
idyllic  youths  on  the  cover  of  "  Harper's  Magazine," 
and  that  he  should  assume  heavier  responsibilities  than 
scattering  blooms  and  bubbles  over  a  grateful  universe 
seemed  an  act  of  self-destruction  almost  criminal. 

"  Of  what  use  to  us,  in  these  matters,  is  our  little 
inch  of  foresight  ? "  he  exclaimed,  with  one  of  his 
thousand  smiles. 

There  had  been  a  storm  that  afternoon,  which  had 
left  the  air  full  of  moisture,  with  airy  coteries  of  clouds 
floating  in  all  directions.  Clouds  rose  from  the  river 
and  from  the  soggy  pastures  ;  they  rolled  over  the  gar 
dens  and  lingered  in  the  lilac  bushes  ;  they  drifted 
along  the  eaves  and  crept  into  the  upper  windows  ; 
they  brushed  the  hills  and  reconnoitered  the  water 
courses,  till  it  looked  as  if  the  country  had  surrendered 
to  a  mackerel  sky.  One  of  these  airy  puffs  had  drift 
ed  into  the  porch  at  Mrs.  Anderson's,  and,  passing 
through  it,  Halstead  looked  first  at  the  sky  and  then  at 
the  muddy  road. 

"  I  ana  going  to  drive  down  presently,"  said  Mrs. 
Sterling,  "  and  if  you  are  going  I  might  take  you,  I 
suppose." 

But  even  presently  seemed  too  long  to  his  eager  im 
patience,  and  he  set  out  on  his  walk. 

When  he  reached  the  Desborough  place,  Miss  Han- 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  231 

nah  told  him  he  would  find  Rachel  in  the  parlor,  and 
he  entered  without  further  formality.  She  was  there 
alone,  and  the  lamps  were  not  yet  lighted. 

"  You  are  not  surprised  ?  "  he  said,  as  the  young 
girl  rose.  "  I  told  you  in  the  city  that  I  would  come 
as  sure  as  fate.  I  am  quite  as  sure,  since  I  would 
play  the  part  of  fate  to  you,  —  what  could  make  a 
man  so  sure  as  that !  Dear  Rachel,  my  beautiful  Ra 
chel  !  "  he  cried.  "  You  are  the  same  ;  the  same,  are 
you,  to  me  ?  "  And  again  his  eyes  shone  down  upon 
her  like  stars  in  hot  weather. 

"Did  you  get  my  letter?"  she  asked.  Her  very 
lips  were  white.  She  looked  for  once  like  a  Desbor- 
ough. 

Dayton  was  standing  behind  her  in  the  dusky  door 
way  leading  from  his  apartments,  as  if  he  were  en 
trapped  in  the  gloom.  Volition  had  deserted  him  on 
the  threshold.  His  brows  were  knit ;  arid  a  spiritual 
darkness  seemed  to  pervade  him. 

Halstead  forbid  himself  a  moment,  in  obedience  to 
something  in  Rachel's  face,  and  then  his  quick  eye  fell 
vipon  his  friend,  —  fell  unwillingly,  apprehensively. 

"  Ah,  Dayton,"  he  said,  advancing,  ''  you  are  a  lucky 
man.  I  did  not  know  you  were  still  here.  It  ought 
to  be  the  best  built  bit  of  road  in  New  England." 

Dayton  did  not  take  the  proffered  hand.  In  fact,  he 
did  not  see  it.  He  went  over  to  the  window,  where  he 
stopped  again,  and  looked  at  Rachel,  as  if  he  begged 
of  her  some  explanatory  sign  which  should  turn  his 
ardent  chattering  into  a  vapid  joke. 


232  AN    EARNEST    TKIFLER. 

But  Rachel  was  entirely  grave,  —  preoccupied,  even, 
and  her  eyes  and  ears  were  for  Halstead  only.  "When 
did  you  come  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  To-night.  You  don't  suppose  I  have  been  ir  the 
neighborhood  long.  I  am  not  to  stay  long,  either, 
which  is  more  to  the  point." 

"Your  sister,  perhaps,  was  not  expecting  you/' 
Dayton  managed  to  say. 

"  She  thinks  that  when  one  goes  West  he  must  fol 
low  the  sun  till  he  reappears  to  eastward,"  chattered 
the  clever  fellow.  "  She  does  n't  know  how  easy  it  is 
to  double  on  one's  tracks.  I  went  out  to  look  around, 
as  they  say  out  there.  I  looked  around,  —  to  some 
purpose  too,  I  assure  you,  —  and  here  I  am.  How  is 
the  road,  Dayton  ?  " 

"  Done,"  replied  Dayton  briefly.  "  Done."  And 
crossing  the  room  he  went  out  into  the  hall,  and  thence 
into  the  street. 

He  had  not  gone  far,  however,  when  Mrs.  Sterling 
drove  up  to  the  curb-stone.  She  beckoned  to  him  with 
her  fan,  as  she  sent  her  driver  with  some  message  into 
a  low  frame  house,  which  was  set  far  back  in  a  yard. 
There  were  geese  in  the  yard,  and  they  came  strutting 
and  hissing  out  to  the  fence,  thrusting  their  necks  be 
tween  the  palings,  and  filing  out  the  gate  to  repulse 
the  intruders.  Mrs.  Sterling  put  her  head  out  of  the 
carriage  window  and  desired  him  to  enter,  which  he 
declined.  She  seemed  to  have  a  great  deal  to  say, 
and  it  mingled  in  some  way  in  his  mind  with  the  hiss 
ing  of  the  geese  that  were  about  his  legs. 


AN    EARNEST    TRIFLER.  233 

"  It  is  about  as  bad  as  it  cati  be,"  she  said,  with  her 
pleasant,  lively  loquacity.  "  I  thought  it  had  all  blown 
over ;  but  not  a  bit  of  it.  We  have  deceived  ourselves. 
They  are  going  to  be  married.  He  is  very  sly.  He 
went  to  the  city  to  see  her,  and  now  she  brings  him 
back  here.  It  will  be  a  love  match.  It  does  n't  make 
any  difference  whether  we  go  to  Boston,  or  stay  here 
till  October,  though  of  course  he  would  stay  if  we 
did.  And  he  ought  to  be  at  his  business.  He  says 
she  is  too  beautiful  for  him.  That  is  n't  all  of  it,  per 
haps.  She  is  n't  artful,  but  she  certainly  is  n't  artless. 
She  has  the  sense  of  her  own  fascinations.  She  is 
cleverer  than  any  of  us.  I  should  think  you  would 
have  known  when  you  came  here  how  it  would  be,  — 
not  that  I  blame  you,  of  course.  But  it  is  so  terribly 
different  from  what  we  expected  for  him.  That  is 
what  took  him  West,  you  see.  We  thought  it  queer 
at  the  time.  They  will  live  in  one  of  those  benighted 
Western  towns,  where  they  don't  care  what  a  man's 
advantages  have  been ;  all  they  care  for  is  what  he 
i  an  do.  Something  may  happen,  but  I  am  afraid  it 
won't.  Perhaps  he  means  to  take  her  back.  He  is 
very  much  in  love.  I  suppose  you  left  him  there  ?  " 

A  man  came  out  of  the  gate  bearing  a  huge  white 
bundle  through  which  appeared  innumerable  fluted 
ruflles,  and  Mrs.  Sterling  disposed  of  it  on  the  seat 
beside  her.  "  I  am  sorry,"  she  said,  nodding  again  to 
Dayton  from  the  window,  "  that  we  are  going  so  soon, 
but  I  suppose  you  are  about  to  leave,  too." 

Dayton  saw  it  all  then ;  and  the  geese  which  fol- 


234  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

lowed  him  saw  it  all.  The  hopes  he  had  cherished  in 
patience,  in  felicity,  and  in  secret  turned  and  pointed 
fcheii  long,  fine  fingers  at  him  ;  and  he  strode  down 
the  street  like  a  wretch  who  laughs,  and  at  whom  all 
sane  things  laugh.  He  wished  to  creep  away,  to  hide 
himself  and  his  derangement  of  grief. 

On  his  return,  near  midnight,  he  passed  a  rapid 
walker,  whom  he  recognized  but  who  did  not  recognize 
him ;  then,  as  he  went  up  the  path  toward  the  side 
piazza,  he  saw  the  lamp  still  burning  in  the  parlor,  and 
a  shadow  moving  about  in  the  half  light,  —  a  shadow 
.which  he  knew.  He  went  to  his  room  and  crossed  it, 
as  if  he  would  once  more  admit  himself  into  the  pres 
ence  of  love  and  midnight,  but  just  inside  the  door  he 
stopped,  the  expression  of  self-derision  curling  his  lips 
anew.  What,  after  all,  could  he  say  to  her  ?  What 
could  he  say  to  her  in  the  light  from  which  Nathan 
Halstead  had  just  slipped  ?  What  had  he  to  say  to  the 
sweetheart  of  his  friend  ?  He  had  no  dexterity,  no 
complaisance.  He  hated  complaint.  He  hated  peti 
tions.  He  hated  the  hopeless  turmoil  in  his  own  breast 
and  the  smiling  responses  awarded  it  by  the  exquisite 
Rachel  Guerrin.  The  passionate  discouragement  which 
«he  had  given  him  had  been  sincere,  and  the  pretty 
countenance  which  she  had  sometimes  shown  his  ardor 
had  been  but  a  part  of  the  sweet  craft  inseparable  from 
the  nature  of  a  beautiful  woman.  Perhaps  she  would 
agair  woo  him  with  her  innocent  and  dainty  deceit  if 
he  should  enter.  She  was  still  so  near,  still  so  sweet. 
He  had  visions  of  her  approaches,  her  gestures.  He 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  235 

heard  the  rustle  of  her  dress,  and  felt  the  breath  of 
the  air  as  she  swept  past  him.  Then  he  laughed  again, 
and  packed  his  valise. 

The  next  morning,  as  he  was  going  out,  Rachel  de 
scended  the  stairs.  She  was  very  late,  and  she  came 
slowly.  He  waited  for  her  by  the  heavy  walnut  newel, 
and  then  offered  her  his  hand.  "  I  know  no  way  to 
take  leave  of  you,"  he  said.  "  The  common  adieux 
won't  set  me  adrift." 

There  was  something  lurking  in  his  face  that  changed 
the  brightness  of  the  morning  into  a  sullen,  surcharged 
blackness,  and  she  stood  dismayed,  as  he  turned  ab 
ruptly  and  went  down  the  path  toward  the  gate. 

(t  Why  did  n't  you  say  good-by  to  him  ?  "  inquired 
Miss  Hannah,  passing  briskly  through  the  hall.  "  He 
'is  not  coming  back." 

"  Not  coming  back  ?  "  cried  Rachel,  incredulously. 

Presently  she  ran  down  through  the  garden,  and 
watched  with  unbelief  the  train  that  carried  him  away 
wind  along  the  river-bank.  It  was  a  shining  Septem 
ber  day,  and  the  ivy  and  sumac  were  red  upon  the 
grave-yard  wall.  She  leaned  over  it  among  the  brill 
iant,  expiring  leaves,  and  the  hush  about  her  grew 
deep,  the  solitude  dense. 

Mrs.  Sterling,  upon  the  train,  was  calling  attention 
to  her  brother's  indisposition.  "  He  came  in  very  late, 
last  night,"  she  said,  with  amiable  raillery. 

"  I  got  caught  in  the  evergreens,"  he  responded, 
with  his  intrepid  smile. 


XX. 

IN  October  Dayton  started  for  California.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  if  he  could  put  the  Rocky  Mountains  be 
tween  him  and  the  scene  of  his  ineffectual  passion  he 
might  begin  to  multiply  the  years  with  some  hope 
of  forgetfulness.  New  England  was  too  small.  He 
could  at  any  time  stretch  himself  and  touch  the  hem 
of  Rachel  Guerrin's  dress,  —  a  touch  in  which  there 
would  be  no  healing.  The  cities  were  full  of  faint  re 
semblances  to  her,  and  at  every  point  there  was  a  pos 
sible  intersection  of  their  paths.  He  found  himself 
thinking  of  her  as  he  strode  past  the  flower-stands. 
He  found  himself  looking  for  her  among  the  pedes 
trians  who  hurried  along  the  sidewalks,  and  among 
the  pretty  frequenters  of  shops.  He  was  too  near. 
There  was  danger  that  he  might  meet  her,  and  it  was 
possible  that  he  might  not.  He  speculated  upon  the 
idea  of  meeting  her,  and  wondered  in  what  dumb 
fashion  he  would  stand  it  to  see  her  again  come  near 
and  again  sweep  past  him.  Once  when  he  thought  he 
saw  her  he  looked  again,  but  it  was  only  a  shabby 
little  girl  casting  an  eager,  long-fringed  glance  over 
some  engravings  in  a  window  ;  and  once,  impelled  by 
an  irresistible  likeness,  he  followed  a  tall,  slight  figure 
into  a  palace  car.  It  was  after  that  he  determined  to 
go  back  to  California. 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  237 

Not  long  before  he  left,  Mrs.  Sterling  saw  him  upon 
the  street  in  Boston,  and  driving  up  to  the  pavement 
offered  to  take  him  in  her  victoria  to  whatever  point 
he  was  bound. 

"  I  am  on  my  way  to  San  Francisco,"  he  said,  lifting 
his  hat. 

"  Very  well,  get  in,"  she  responded,  making  room 
for  him  by  a  new  disposition  of  her  flounces.  "  I  am 
going  in  that  direction." 

He  took  the  place  beside  her,  and  they  rolled  west 
ward  down  the  avenue.  "  Going  to  San  Francisco  !  " 
she  exclaimed,  smiling  at  him  under  her  pretty  par 
asol.  "  I  am  sorry  to  hear  it.  We  can't  afford  to 
lose  you.  We  have  n't  much  to  lose  in  the  way  of 
your  society,  to  be  sure,  but  we  feel  that  you  help 
give  a  solid  support  to  the  light,  social  superstructure. 
And  then  I  am  expecting  Rachel  Guerrin.  I  thought 
that  if  you  did  neglect  me,  —  and  you  have,  you 
know,  unpardonably,  —  you  would  summon  some  prin 
ciple  and  call  upon  her.  Where  have  you  buried 
yourself?  Your  habits  are  the  most  incorrigible  I  ever 
knew.  They  are  worse  than  bad  ones.  A  reprobate 
can  reform,  but  a  good  man  never.  I  have  been  try 
ing  for  years  to  mitigate  your  seclusion,  and  the  mo 
ment  I  have  some  positive  obligations  on  my  side  you 
escape  to  the  Pacific  slope  !  I  give  you  up." 

"  I  have  given  myself  up,"  he  said  ;  "  I  am  going  on 
the  twenty -seventh." 

"  She  may  be  here  before  that !  "  the  lady  returned. 
''  I  have  written  to  her  to  come  right  away Na- 


238  AN  EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

than  is  n't  here  now,"  she  added,  smiling.  "  But  then 
if  that  affair  ever  should  come  to  anything,  as  I  sup 
pose  it  must,  I  should  like  to  have  shown  her  every 
attention.  At  any  rate,  it  can  do  no  harm.  We  will 
give  you  a  farewell  dinner." 

"  Don't  think  me  uncivilized,"  he  answered,  "  but  I 
will  be  very  busy.  You  must  n't  count  on  me." 

And  after  that  he  was  in  a  fever  to  be  off.  Even 
when  seated  in  the  car  in  the  compartment  assigned 
him,  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  train  would  never  pull 
out,  and  from  the  window  his  eyes  roved  over  the  pas 
sengers  coming  and  going,  in  the  hope  and  fear  of  rest 
ing  for  a  moment  upon  the  figure  of  the  woman  who 
could  command  his  resolution. 

He  was  in  the  great  West,  where  some  bleak  winds 
were  blowing,  before  he  felt  that  he  had  truly  started, 
leaving  the  summer  far  behind  him. 

His  fever  then  abated.  His  haste  gave  place  to  a 
strange,  dull  leisure.  It  was  a  great  country,  and  it 
made  no  difference  where  he  went  or  when  he  got  there, 
if  he  ever  got  there.  He  thought  of  Rio  Janeiro  and  of 
New  Orleans  with  greater  longing  than  of  San  Francisco, 
and  his  mind,  which  had  been  running  in  a  deep  and 
narrow  sluice,  suddenly  broke  in  a  shallow  inundation 
all  over  the  Western  plains.  Time  seemed  endless, 
and  economy  of  it  as  absurd  as  it  was  useless.  When 
he  found  himself  in  California,  what  then  !  His  legs 
were  cramped  with  long  sitting,  and  as  the  train  stopped 
to  one  of  the  far  Western  cities  he  rose,  took  his  va 
lise,  and  sauntered  out  without  a  purpose  into  the  noisy 


AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER.  239 

depot.  The  wind  was  still  bleak.  The  gas-lighta 
burned  dimly,  while  waiting  for  the  later  darkness. 
The  streets  looked  unfamiliar.  It  was  the  unfamil 
iar  he  wanted ;  and  hailing  a  cab  he  desired  to  be 
driven  to  a  hotel  which  he  named. 

He  registered  his  name,  was  assigned  a  room,  ate 
his  supper,  and  strolled  back  to  the  rotunda  recon 
noitring  in  his  indifference  for  a  mode  of  spending  the 
evening.  He  was  not  good  at  picking  and  choosing 
among  entertainments.  Too  often  there  was  a  large 
deficit  between  social  amusement  and  his  unamused 
spirit,  —  a  deficit  which  measures  the  degree  one  is 
bored.  He  bought  an  evening  paper  from  habit,  and 
not  because  he  wanted  it,  and  was  about  to  withdraw 
from  the  office  when  a  brisk  young  man  entered,  and 
singling  him  from  among  the  many  loungers  crossed 
the  checkered  marble  with  a  ringing  step. 

Dayton  surveyed  him  at  arm's-length,  feeling  that 
in  stopping  short  of  the  Sierras  he  had  allowed  himself 
too  short  a  radius.  The  two  had  not  met  for  weeks, 
und  in  this  sudden  encounter  there  seemed  to  be  the 
shock  of  forces  still  conflicting.  Their  old  and  gen 
uine  friendship  had  collapsed  like  a  balloon,  and  they 
shook  hands  as  strangers ;  one  a  tall,  plain,  and  unpre 
tentious  man,  and  the  other  a  trim,  alert  young  fellow, 
jv'ith  one  tooth  broken  and  two  vertical  lines  between 
Ids  eyes. 

"  I  saw  you  get  off  the  train,"  said  Halstead.  "  I 
was  looking  for  you.  I  am  here  to  meet  you.  I  have 
been  expecting  you  for  weeks.  You  have  been  in  the 
air.  Have  you  had  your  supper  ?  ' 


240  AN   EARNEST.  TRIFLER. 

"  Those  who  know  you  best  should  n't  be  surprised 
to  see  you  anywhere,"  said  Dayton  shortly.  "  You 
look  well  and  prosperous.  Where  are  you  from  ?  " 

"  From  the  furnaces  south.  I  am  building  one.  My 
sister  writes  me  you  are  on  your  way  to  California." 

«  Yes." 

There  was  a  short,  speculative  pause  on  Halstead's 
part.  Then,  "  What  are  you  going  to  do  to-night  ?  " 
he  asked. 

"I  have  made  only  a  slender  provision,"  replied 
Dayton,  holding  up  his  paper,  and  glancing  with  an  in 
voluntary  contraction  of  the  brows  at  the  head-lines. 

"  Nothing  in  it,"  said  Nathan,  "  unless  you  read  the 
crimes  and  casualties.  Nobody  wants  to  live  out  here  ; 
or  if  they  do,  they  don't  want  anybody  else  to.  There 
is  an  opera,"  he  added,  after  another  speculative  pause. 
"  '  Aida,'  —  arranged  for  the  successors  of  the  purple 
Pharaohs.  Suppose  we  go." 

Dayton  cared  about  as  much  for  the  opera  as  he 
did  for  the  Pharaohs,  but  his  ears  were  waiting  in  sus 
pense  for  communications  from  this  readily  communi 
cating  young  man. 

"  Very  well,"  he  assented.  "  But  we  must  make 
haste." 

A  few  minutes  later  they  were  seated  in  the  parquet, 
from  which  they  immediately  addressed  their  attention 
to  the  stage,  with  an  appearance  of  absorbing  interest 
which  struck  Halstead  as  grotesque  in  its  gravity,  — 
a  gravity,  however,  which  his  sense  of  the  grotesque 
failed  to  relieve.  The  dress  of  the  princess,  which  was 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  241 

of  a  peculiarly  scant  and  oriental  order,  secured  his 
admiration  for  a  few  moments,  and  as  one  by  one 
the  unhappy  warblers  fell  with  heavy  thuds  upon  the 
boards  he  was  momentarily  drawn  from  his  reflections  ; 
but  upon  the  whole  the  brilliant  portrayal  of  love  and 
defeat  failed  to  beguile  him  from  the  realities  it  coun 
terfeited.  When  the  noble  imitation  princess  writhed 
around  the  dark  pilasters  of  the  royal  imitation  palace, 
wringing  her  hands  in  imitation  anguish,  he  involunta 
rily  turned  to  his  companion  ;  but  Dayton  might  as  well 
have  been  sitting  on  the  side  portico,  looking  profession 
ally  at  the  Beaudeck  mountains,  for  all  his  face  be 
trayed  ;  so  repressing  the  comments  which  were  upon 
his  tongue,  he  turned  again  to  the  lively  painted  spec 
tacle. 

After  the  opera  was  over  they  returned  to  the  hotel, 
and  went  into  the  reading-room,  which  was  empty.  It 
was  growing  late,  and  still  they  did  not  separate.  The 
purpose  which  had  brought  them  together  seemed  not 
yet  to  have  completed  its  design. 

"  Dayton,"  said  Halstead,  abruptly,  leaning  over  one 
of  the  tables,  "  how  about  Beaudeck  ?  Have  you  ever 
been  back  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Not  since  the  morning  we  left  there  together  ?  " 

o  o 

"  No.' 

"  Nor  I.  I  have  had  it  on  my  mind  to  say  some 
thing  to  you  about  that  matter,"  he  proceeded.  "  I 
could  n't  let  you  get  away  without  it.  That  is  what 
I  am  here  for.  I  can't  afford  to  feel  shabby  and  dis- 
ifi 


242  AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER. 

creditable  before  you,  and  I  owe  you  a  bit  of  delicate 
frankness.  I  should  have  told  you  then  and  there.  I 
knew  it,  but  I  sneaked  away  with  honors,  perhaps,  that 
did  not  belong  to  me.  I  thought  you  would  find  it  out 
for  yourselves,  but  I  am  afraid  you  have  n't.  My 
sister,  I  know,  labors  under  a  delusion.  As  for  you, 
you  suspect  me  either  of  being  a  trifling  character  or 
a  great  success.  I  don't  know  which." 

Dayton  looked  black.  He  could  scarcely  endure 
this  incisive  young  man  among  his  wounds,  and  he  was 
slow  to  take  in  his  meaning.  "  I  suspect  you  of  both," 
he  said  ;  "  first  one,  and  then  the  other.  Let  us  make 
short  work  of  this." 

"  It  was  a  dead  failure,"  the  young  man  proclaimed. 
"  There  is  no  diversion  in  making  love  to  such  beauty 
as  hers.  You  might  as  well  go  up  to  a  torch.  I  don't 
pretend  to  say  that  I  was  above  lightly  abusing  their 
hospitality  at  first,  but  in  the  end  I  was  as  serious  as  — 
as  you.  I  know  it,  and  so  do  you.  There  were  two  of 
us,  and  only  a  chance  for  one,  and  I  would  n't  get  out 
of  your  way,  even  when  I  knew  you  were  in  earnest 
and  I  was  n't.  I  had  the  start  of  you,  but  I  lost  some 
where  on  the  road.  I  never  knew  just  where.  Per 
haps  " — 

"Perhaps  what?"  said  Dayton,  interrupting  the 
fine  analysis  which  was  lasting  all  night.  "  Per 
haps  this !  Perhaps  that !  Perhaps  a  thousand 
things!  Do  you  suppose  I  would  ask  a  wife  at  the 
hands  of  even  a  brilliant  fellow  like  you  ?  That  I  would 
ivin  her  by  such  propitious  means  as  your  getting  oat 


AN  EARNEST   TRIFLEB.  243 

of  my  way  ?  You  have  done  me  no  wrong.  Perhaps 
she  is  going  to  marry  you,  and  perhaps  she  is  not,  — 
that  is  the  point." 

"  She  is  not,"  declared  Halstead. 

"  Not  ?  "  repeated  Dayton. 

"  It  was  a  dead  failure,"  Halstead  went  on,  as  if  t6 
finish  more  elaborately  while  the  mood  was  on  him. 
"  I  tried,  and  could  not  make  it.  I  followed  her  when 
she  went  away,  and  asked  her  to  marry  me  before 
I  knew  it ;  then  followed  her  back  to  Beaudeck,  and 
asked  her  again,  knowing  it  that  time.  Jove  !  the 
effect  of  failure  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  effect 
of  success,  if  a  fellow  had  It.  I  would  have  grown 
used  to  success  in  half  the  time  I  have  spent  groaning 
over  the  nothingness  of  this  result.  It  seems  she  wrote 
me  a  letter,  which  I  did  not  get  till  later,  —  a  half-pen 
itent  letter  it  was,"  he  added,  with  a  singular  laugh. 
"  But  when  I  went  back  the  last  time,  she  would  n't 
even  compromise  with  me  for  a  longer  trial.  It  was 
better  I  should  have  asked  her.  I  think  that  after 
all  she  was  glad  to  know  I  wished  it.  It  rather  put 
me  right  with  her ;  and  I  believe  she  thought  her  re 
fusal  would  only  put  her  right  with  me.  Perhaps  you 
had  something  to  do  with  it.  I  suspect,  without  rea 
son,  mind  you,  that  you  had.  Yet  here  you  go  to  San 
Francisco.  What  takes  you  there  ?  " 

Dayton  stared  at  him  a,-*  at  a  sentimental  acrobat. 
"  Nothing  takes  me  anywhere,"  he  stammered,  the 
light  breaking  in  upon  him. 

"  You,   of  all   men,"   cried   Nathan,   with   eloquent 


244  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

mockery,  "  to  be  crossing  the  Continent  by  express,  — 
to  swing  your  valise,  and  cry  Westward,  ho  !  A  pas 
sionate  pilgrim !  A  fugitive  from  fortune,  from  felic 
ity  !  Go  back  to  Boston.  Rachel  Guerrin  is  there. 
Go  back  and  make  yourself  glad.  I  wish  I  had  your 
chance.  You  have  been  fooled  by  your  modesty,  —  by 
that  fine  reserve  of  yours.  Even  you  can  be  a  fool. 
If  any  one  deserves  his  heart's  desire,  it  is  you.  Go 
back  and  get  it.  You  to  migrate  !  You  to  be  going 
West !  "  And,  rising  hastily,  he  crossed  the  room,  ges 
ticulating  as  he  went. 

"  Halstead !  Halstead  !  "  Dayton  shouted  after  him. 
He  wanted  to  embrace  him.  But  the  young  man  had 
gone. 

Dayton  sank  back  in  his  chair,  and  with  that  cere 
bral  trick  which  mingles  the  slightest  conceits  with 
the  deepest  emotions,  recalled  the  cry  of  an  auctioneer 
which  he  had  heard  that  evening  in  passing :  "  Going ! 
going !  Easy  as  the  wind  blows,  easy  as  the  water 
flows.  He  who  says  nothing  wins  nothing."  Pres 
ently  his  face  relaxed,  and  took  on  the  same  expression 
it  had  worn  in  the  short  and  tender  season  of  his  hope 
fulness.  Then  the  fire  came  into  it,  and  going  to  the 
office  he  inquired  when  the  first  train  left  for  the  East. 

On  the  early  evening  of  the  day  he  arrived  in  Bos 
ton,  he  was  admitted  into  Mrs.  Sterling's  library. 
That  lady  was  toasting  a  pair  of  very  pretty  slippers 
before  the  fire,  while  a  blonde  student,  with  a  timid 
manner  and  a  bouquet  in  his  button-hole,  seemed  to  be 
serving  as  an  incentive  to  a  conversation  between  her 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  245 

and  Eachel.  At  first  he  thought  the  young  girl  changed 
and  somewhat  colorless,  but  a  moment  later  wondered 
that  he  could  ever  have  thought  her  pale.  She  wore  a 
long  black  dress  very  high  about  the  throat,  and  her 
hair  was  twisted  in  the  fashion  in  which  she  had  ar 
ranged  it  in  the  mountains.  Yet  the  surroundings  were 
new.  There  was  an  indefinable  difference,  and  she 
seemed  further  from  him  than  at  any  time  since  he 
left  the  reading-room  of  the  Western  hotel.  What 
wild  idea  was  that  of  tender  familiarity  toward  her? 
The  very  precision  of  her  dark  costume  forbade  him. 

When  the  stir  of  his  unexpected  arrival  was  over, 
they  began  talking  of  California,  whither  he  was  still 
supposed  to  be  going  shortly.  They  talked  about  the 
winds,  the  droughts,  the  rich  imagination  of  Nordhoff ; 
about  the  Chinese,  the  tea-trade  ;  about  the  Sutro  tun 
nel  ;  about  the  climate  of  Santa  Barbara,  —  till  the 
timid  scholar,  who  from  time  to  time  had  urged  himself 
into  saying  something,  rose  and  bowed  himself  away. 

When  the  door  closed  behind  him,  Mrs.  Sterling 
again  placed  upon  the  fender  slippers  of  the  size  and 
style  which  require  the  constant  application  of  heat, 
and  began  in  an  expository  way  to  set  forth  some  of 
the  peculiarities  of  the  learned  man  who  had  just  gone, 
and  whom  she  spoke  of  as  Archie  Pennefeather. 

She  told  Dayton  she  meant  yet  to  give  him  his  fare 
well  dinner,  and  getting  a  pencil  and  bit  of  paper  wrote 
on  it  the  names  of  several  persons  whom  she  would 
like  to  invite  on  that  occasion,  asking  his  approval  of 
each  one  with  gracious  deference.  She  told  him,  too. 


246  AN  EARNEST   7RIFLER. 

how  glad  her  husband  would  be  to  see  him,  and  insisted 
that  he  should  remain  till  his  return. 

Presently,  however,  she  began  to  wonder  at  a  call 
which,  for  him,  was  so  unprecedented  in  length ;  and 
judging  it  best,  she  heard  a  sound  that  called  her,  tem- 
poiarily,  to  another  room. 

Rachel  went  to  the  window  and  looked  out  for  Mr. 
Sterling ;  but  that,  of  necessity,  was  a  respite  which 
could  not  last  long.  When  she  came  back  the  room 
seemed  strangely  small,  and  Dayton  confronted  her 
with  the  old  imperative  fervor. 

"  I  heard  you  were  here,"  he  said.  "  I  have  come 
in  search  of  you." 

"  I  am  not  hard  to  find  at  any  time,"  she  replied. 

"  But  you  may  be  easy  to  lose.  I  thought  I  had 
lost  you.  Will  I  lose  you  if  I  prove  a  little  too  glad 
to  see  you  ?  How  glad  shall  I  dare  to  be  ?  " 

"  Oh,  quite  glad,"  she  said,  negatively  still. 

"  As  glad  as  this  ?  "  he  asked,  taking  her  hands.  He 
meant,  if  possible,  never  to  let  them  go,  but  he  needed 
to  explain  it  to  her.  He  wanted  to  tell  her  that  he 
had  made  a  grim  mistake,  which  had  torn  him  from 
the  mountains,  and  sent  him  far  on  his  way  toward 
the  Pacific.  That  if  she  would  ever  make  room  for 
him  near  her  she  must  do  it  then.  That  he  loved 
her.  That  if  it  were  possible  she  would  ever  marry 
him,  she  must  give  him  a  hint  of  it  to  live  upon.  But 
the  words  for  this  immensity  of  conversation  seemed 
scattered  through  a  lost  language,  and  he  only  stared 
at  her  with  his  imperative  fervor.  The  lights  burned 


AN   EARNEST    TRIFLER.  247 

faiutly.  She  was  very  near  him.  He  raised  her  hands 
to  his  shoulders.  His  imperative  passion  compelled 
him,  and  he  put  his  arms  around  her. 

Three  days  later  Nathan  Halstead  presented  himself 
at  his  sister's  door. 

"  You  were  hardly  expecting  me,  I  suppose,"  he  said 
to  her.  "  I  have  been  traveling  for  days,  for  weeks, 
for  months.  There  is  a  friend  of  mine  whom  I  never 
see  that  he  does  n't  tell  me  how  far  he  has  traveled 
within  a  given  time.  '  Two  thousand  miles  in  the 
mouth  of  June,'  he  will  say  ;  or,  'I  've  been  East 
twenty-nine  times  since  a  year  ago  the  tenth  of  No 
vember.'  I  smell  railroad  smoke  whenever  I  see  him. 
But  I  excuse  him.  I  wonder  now  that  I  ever  fancied 
him  a  bore." 

"  Come  into  the  library,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling,  to  whom 
this  last  surprise  promised  a  solution  of  the  phenome 
non  preceding.  "  Which  would  you  prefer,  —  a  lounge 
or  a  lunch  ?  " 

"  I  have  lunched,  thank  you,"  he  replied,  as  he  fol 
lowed  her  into  the  cosier  room,  which  was  fitted  for 
greater  confidences.  But  instead  of  taking  the  lounge, 
he  stood  with  his  back  to  the  fire,  his  eyes  wandering 
through  the  open  doors.  "  What  is  going  on  ?  "  he 
asked.  "  What  is  your  latest  item  ?  Where  is  Rachel 
Guerrin  ?  " 

"  Rachel  ?    She  has  gone." 

"  Gone !  " 

"  Yes,  —  home.  She  left  this  morning.  Did  you 
expect  to  see  her  ?  " 


248  AN   EARNEST   TRIFLER. 

"  I  wanted  to  take  another  look  at  her.  It  is  what 
I  came  for.  And  Dayton,"  he  added,  "  has  he  been 
here  ?  " 

"Yes." 

There  was  an  interval  during  which  a  perceptible 
shrinkage  took  place  in  Halstead's  expansive  being. 
"  Well,  go  on,"  he  said.  "  What  success  did  he  have  ? 
Toll  me  all  the  horrible  particulars." 

"  They  are  engaged,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling.  But  her 
listener  received  this  abrupt  disclosure  as  if  prepared 
to  hear  it. 

"  Where  were  they  ?  "  he  inquired  ;  "  and  when  was 
it,  —  noon  or  midnight  ?  Was  she  as  beautiful  as  ever  ? 
You  never  thought,  did  you,  to  warn  him  against  the 
regrets  which  might  overtake  him  ?  How  often  did  he 
see  her  ?  " 

"Twice,  —  night  before  last  and  last  night." 

Halstead  drew  his  brows  more  closely  together. 
"  And  a  revolver,"  he  said  presently,  "is  no  longer 
the  proper  thing.  Neither  is  a  bed  of  charcoal.  We 
are  taught  in  these  milder  days  that  time  is  full  oi 
redress,  and  that  susceptibility  is  our  genius.  I  have 
etill  much  time.  I  have  still  great  susceptibility." 
And  he  laughed,  as  if  in  his  insight  into  his  suscep 
tible  nature  he  found  something  pitiable  and  humor 
ous.  But  in  spite  of  his  shrug  and  his  smile,  there 
was  something  in  his  voice  and  in  his  eyes  indicative 
of  real  disappointment  and  regret,  and,  seeing  it,  his 
Bister  asked  no  questions. 

Presently  he  took  from  his  pocket  two  letters,  —  one 


AN  EARNEST   TEIFLER.  249 

from  Rachel  Guerrin,  and  one,  still  sealed,  from  Paris, 
directed  in  a  lady's  hand.  He  dropped  them  both  into 
the  grate.  "  What  is  there,"  he  asked,  "  to  occupy  a 
man  who  has  an  evening  on  his  hands  ?  Is  there  any 
place  to  which  you  care  to  go  ?  What  is  at  the  thea 
tres  ?  " 

"  There  is  Louise,"  suggested  Mrs.  Sterling. 

"  My  dear  sister,  I  can't  do  it,"  he  said,  replying 
rather  to  her  significance  than  to  her  suggestion  for 
the  evening. 

"  She  was  terribly  disappointed  over  you." 

"  We  are  all  disappointed,"  Halstead  observed,  be 
ginning  again  to  generalize  brilliantly.  "  The  differ 
ence  is,  that  some  of  us  rally  and  some  of  us  don't. 
The  part  of  wisdom  is  to  rally.  I  feel  destined,"  he 
added,  "  to  be  a  little,  light  old  man." 


